The tax on HFCs officially adopted in France

Date: 2019/01/31
Subject: <a href="/en/news/sectoral_intelligence?news_search_form%5Bsubject_ids%5D%5B%5D=428#results">Regulation ; <a href="/en/news/sectoral_intelligence?news_search_form%5Bsubject_ids%5D%5B%5D=433#results">HFCs alternatives
Themes: HFCs ; <a href="/en/search/Refrigerants,%20secondary%20refrigerants:%20regulations%20and%20standards">Refrigerants, secondary refrigerants: regulations and standards
Keywords: Regulations ; France ; HFC
Commissions: Refrigerated storage; Air conditioning; Refrigerating equipment; Food science & engineering; Refrigerated transport; Heat pumps, energy recovery

The tax on HFC refrigerant has been much debated in the last 18 months in France. In July 2017, it first appeared in Nicolas Hulot's¹ Climate Plan (see IIR news 21866).

The tax was debated in the French National Assembly and the Senate to enter into force in the public finance bill of 2018, but it was rejected. An amendment debated in November 2017 suggested the tax could enter into force on January 1, 2019 (see IIR news 23118).

The 2019 Finance Bill was officially adopted on December 30, 2018 and it confirmed the entry into force of the tax as of 2021. It will gradually increase from 2021 to 2025.

The new French scheme will also support the adoption of alternatives to HFCs during a four-year period, from January 1, 2019 until December 31, 2022: "companies [...] can deduct from their taxable profit an amount equal to 40% of the original value, excluding financial expenses, of all refrigeration and air handling equipment using refrigerants other than those mentioned in the first section of the Annex I of the regulation EU 517/2014 [...] ², allocated to their activity and recorded as fixed assets".

Refrigerated transport is exempt from this tax.

Please follow the link below to read the whole Finance Bill (in French).

¹ Nicolas Hulot was the French Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition from May 2017 to August 2018.

² List of the refrigerants concerned: HFC-23, HFC-32, HFC-41, HFC-125, HFC-134, HFC-134a, HFC-143- HFC-143a HFC-125, HFC-152a, HFC-161, HFC-227ea, HFC-236cb, HFC-236ea, HFC-236fa, HFC-245ca, HFC-245fa, HFC-365mfc, HFC-43-10 mee, PFC-14, PFC-116, PFC-218, PFC-3-1-10 (R31-10), PFC-4-1-12 (R41-12), PFC-5-1-14 (R51-14), PRC-c-318.