This Regulation will revoke and replace the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gas Regulation (EU) No 517/2014.

Changes will include expanded leak testing obligations, further bans or restrictions on supplying additional types of product and further restrictions on maintenance and service operations using higher GWP gases. Decreasing production rights and quotas will apply to F-gases and the associated products produced or placed on the EU Market. 

Regulation (EU) 2024/573 will revoke and replace the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gas Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 and makes amendments to the Whistleblowing Directive (EU) 2019/1937.

Regulation (EU) 2024/573 is due to come fully into force on 3 March 2025.

This legislation will apply to EU Member States.

What will change?

Regulation (EU) 2024/573 revises rules on fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases) to reflect the European Green Deal, which includes policies intended to achieve net greenhouse gas emissions reductions of 55% by 2030. More restrictive quotas will be applied on hydrofluorocarbon gases and the volume of these gases that may be placed on the market will reduce significantly.

Updated rules will apply on:

• containment, use, recovery, recycling, reclamation and destruction of F-gases, including associated competency requirements;
• production, import, export, placing on the market, supply and use of F-gases and products containing them, including quantitative limits on hydrofluorocarbons that may be placed on the market;
• specific uses of F-gases; and
• reporting regarding the above.

Containment, maintenance and testing

Repair obligations after leaks arise are specifically also applied to the manufacturers of F-gas equipment and users of F-gases.

After repairs are undertaken following a leak, checks must be undertaken by a competent person within 1 month. The Regulation (EU) 2024/573 states that this must also be undertaken at least 24 operating hours after the repair, although it may be undertaken for mobile equipment before this period has passed .

Parties placing F-gases on the market must provide evidence to the competent authority that any trifluoromethane, produced as a by-product, is destroyed or recovered for use. Declarations of conformity for gases to be placed on the market must include this information. These declarations must be maintained for at least five years.

Users of sulfuryl fluoride for fumigation will be required to capture and collect this gas.

Leak checks

Departing from the 2014 Regulation, leak testing intervals are applied on unit capacity thresholds for Annex I gases (hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and other fluorinated compounds) (which will apply in tCO2e) and Annex II gases (unsaturated hydro(chloro)fluorocarbons, fluorinated substances used as inhalation anaesthetics and other fluorinated substances) (which will apply in kg).

Periodic testing must be undertaken by competent personnel to identify leaks and to trigger the repair any detected leakage. This testing must be undertaken at the following intervals:

From 12 March 2027, leak testing requirements will apply to mobile equipment in further vehicles (these already apply to truck and trailer refrigeration units). This now must include the following, where the respective thresholds are exceeded:

• Refrigeration units in refrigerated light-duty vehicles, intermodal containers, including reefers, and train wagons; and
• air-conditioning equipment and heat pumps in heavy duty vehicles, vans, non-road mobile machinery used in agriculture, mining and construction operations, trains, metros, trams and aircraft.

Leak testing: Exemptions, clarifications and additional requirements

• Electrical switchgear is exempt from testing duties if it has a tested leakage rate of <0.1% per year; is fitted with a pressure or density monitoring device; or, contains <6kg of F-gases.
• Where applicable, leak testing duties will also apply to the use of Annex III gases in electrical switchgear (fluorinated ethers, ketones and alcohols and other fluorinated compounds)
• Fire protection equipment should also be inspected in accordance with ISO 14520 or EN 15004.
• Leakage detection systems are required for equipment containing >500tCO2e, except truck and trailer refrigeration units. Leakage detection should be checked every 12 months (every 6 months for electrical switchgear).

Record keeping

Additional record keeping duties will apply:

• Undertakings selling non-hermetically sealed equipment charged with F-gases must keep records of the equipment supplied for at least five years. This must include certified undertakings carrying out the installation.
• Further records must be kept of F-gases, including by-products, that are placed on the market, supplied or received for at least five years.

Recovery and destruction

• From 12 March 2027, operators of equipment containing F-gases (not contained in foams) are specifically required to ensure substances are recovered and are recycled, reclaimed or destroyed after equipment is decommissioned.
• From 1 January 2025, building owners and contractors must ensure the removal of foam panels, laminated boards in cavities or built-up structures that contain F-gases is managed to avoid emissions and to secure destruction of these gases. Where recovery is undertaken, this must be carried out by suitably qualified persons.
• Where removal of foams is not technically feasible, the building owner or contractor shall draw up documentation providing evidence on the infeasibility of the removal in the specific case. Such documentation shall be kept for 5 years.

Extended producer responsibility schemes

By 31 December 2027, EU Member States are required to ensure that financing arrangements for the management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) include the recycling, reclamation or destruction of F-gases in EEE placed on the market after 10 March 2024.

Certification and training

Certification programmes for work involving F-gases will need to be expanded to include maintaining the energy efficiency of equipment during installation, maintenance or servicing.

By 12 March 2026, the European Commission is required to establish the updated minimum requirements for training and certification programmes in law.

New restrictions on placing F-gases on the market and the use of these gases

Annex IV states products and equipment (or the parts thereof) that may not be placed on the market from the dates stated. A number of exemptions apply.

Requirements are also applied on refillable containers for F-gases. These must be subject to declarations of conformity.

Maintenance, service or use bans

Article 13 prohibits certain activities, which are listed in the table below.

A range of exemptions and exclusions apply against the above, as stated in Article 13.

Hydrofluorocarbon production and trade

Updated quotas (production rights) will apply across the EU. The first round of production rights under the Regulation is due to be allocated by 1 January 2025. Quotas will be based on the baseline annual average of production by each producer between 2011 to 2013, reducing from 60% of the baseline between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2028 to 15% of the baseline from 1 January 2036.

Updated quotas will apply to organisations producing or importing hydrofluorocarbons, with the first round due on 31 October 2024. Quota allocations will take place every at least every three years subsequently. Fugitive releases of these gases count against these quotas. Organisations are required to register to receive quotas and to administer their obligations under the F-gas Portal. As previously, quotas include products or equipment pre-charged with hydrofluorocarbons.

The Regulation (EU) 2024/573 applies restrictions on trade and how these restrictions will be monitored and enforced.

From 12 March 2025, the export of foams, technical aerosols, stationary refrigeration and stationary air-conditioning equipment and stationary heat pumps that contain or rely on F-gases with a GWP of 1,000 or greater will be prohibited.

Reporting by producers, imports and exporters

By 31 March 2025 and every year subsequently, organisations will be required to report the quantity of F-gases that have been exported, reclaimed, destroyed, used, placed on the market, imported or received.

From 30 April 2025, reports need to be verified by an independent auditor if the organisation placed 1,0000 tCO2e or more of hydrocarbons on the market in the preceding calendar year.

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