REFCOM has signed an agreement with Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) confirming its appointment as a mandatory F gas company certification body.
Company certification is a legal requirement under F Gas regulations for businesses that install, maintain or service stationary refrigeration, air-conditioning and/or heat pump equipment containing F gases. Businesses have until July 4 to obtain a certificate.
Key to the new regime are the new personnel refrigerant handling qualifications City & Guilds 2079 and CITB J11-J14 which have been developed specifically to meet the requirements of the F Gas regulations.
To obtain an interim company certificate, businesses must employ engineers holding either:
the old City & Guilds 2078 or CITB J01, or
the new City & Guilds 2079 or CITB J11-J14
Interim certificates are valid until July 2011 to allow time for engineers to gain the new qualifications.
Interim certification for the period to July 2011 will cost :
£70 for sole traders;
£90 for businesses with two to nine refrigeration engineers;
£150 for businesses with 10 to 49 engineers;
and £350 for businesses employing 50 or more engineers.
After July 2011 all businesses must hold a full company certificate.
To obtain a full company certificate, businesses must employ engineers that have the new City & Guilds 2079 or CITB J11-J14 qualifications. In addition, businesses must also prove that they have in place appropriate recovery systems and refrigerant handling procedures.
The three-yearly, full certification fee for the above categories will be £140, £180, £365 and £800.
If engineers only work on equipment containing less than 3kg of F Gas an in-house qualification or 'interim personnel certificate' based on previous experience is needed. Compliance is required by law and customers and refrigerant or equipment suppliers will expect businesses to be certificated.
Businesses who have not yet contacted REFCOM should visit the new website which has full details of the application procedure at
www.refcom.org.uk
Read Graeme Fox's blog on the subject here
F Gas deadline fast approaching...