France

A French decree issued on May 7, 2007 regulates the marketing, use, recovery and destruction conditions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) in refrigeration or air-conditioning units. The decree implements recent European F-gas Regulation on refrigerants. It applies to refrigeration and air conditioning, automobile air-conditioning systems and heat pumps, whatever their refrigerant charges, contrary to the previous 1992 decree which did not apply to charges under 2 kg. According to the decree, actions such as refrigerant charging, commissioning and maintenance of equipment, tightness checks, refrigerant recovery, or any other operation relative to refrigerants should be performed by staff who have been certified by authorized organizations. It is also specified that tightness checks should be regularly performed for all equipment with a charge over 2 kg and that refrigerant distributors should provide their clients with appropriate containers for used refrigerant recovery and to handle the refrigerants returned to them in these containers free of charge.