SOME 50% of companies in the acr industry are now trading illegally after failing to register for an F-Gas certificate before the deadline of July 4.
The government-approved F-Gas registration body Refcom has reported 2,500 registrations to date, leaving an estimated further 2,500 unregistered and trading illegally.

The July 4 deadline makes it illegal to carry out installation or maintenance work on acr equipment containing HFCs without a company certificate.

If a company does not register, the local council can serve an enforcement notice or even a prohibition notice which may result in a piece of equipment or even a whole site being shut down.

In addition there could be criminal prosecutions in either the magistrates court or the crown court. In a magistrates court the penalty would be a fine of up to £5,000. In the crown court the fine is unlimited.

The estimated 2,500 unregistered acr firms could now face prosecution as well as other negative knock-on effects which may impact their business such as the validity of commercial insurance.

A spokesman for Refcom said: 'For the remaining companies that aren't registered they should apply for a certificate and the sooner the better. Trading without a certificate means they are breaking the law'.

Refcom said currently about 100 firms a day are applying to register with the F-gas certification body.

Businesses who have not yet registered should visit the REFCOM website which has full details of the application process at
www.refcom.org.uk.

More guidance can be found on the ACRIB website:www.acrib.org.uk