It was finally approved, the decree that ensures that also Italy is compliant to the European Regulation 842 /2006 on fluorinated greenhouse gases, this is the long-awaited “certification for refrigeration technicians”. The decree determines the modalities of implementation of the European regulation, in reducing the use of such gas, which has become standard in all systems used within our industry of Refrigeration, Air conditioning and Heat Pumps.

From now on, in order to work on air conditioners, refrigeration systems, heat pumps, technicians will need a certification, the one that Italy has been waiting for years. The EU Regulation requires that each Member State sets up a national system of certification of personnel and companies engaged in checking refrigerant leaks, recovery of fluorinated greenhouse gases, as well as the normal installation, maintenance and repair of equipment containing HFC refrigerants (R134a, R404, R407C, R507, R410a, etc. ..) such as refrigerators, air conditioners, heat pumps. The decree ensures that an electronic registry is kept at the Ministry of the Environment, whose management is entrusted to the Chambers of Commerce and to which technicians have to enrol within 60 days of its establishment; those include technicians who carry out leak testing, recovery gas, installation, maintenance or repair of fixed refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps systems. Information on when the registry becomes available, will be provided on the website of the Ministry of Environment, the registration will be carried out electronically.

The actual certificates of registration will be released electronically by the Chambers of Commerce to personnel and companies.

It will be possible to send a request to the Chamber of Commerce, to apply for a provisional certificate, whose requirement is that applicants must have at least two years professional experience. This will last only 6 months after which technicians must obtain a definitive certificate, after passing the final examination for both theoretical and practical skills. Those are the minimum requirements stated on regulation 303/08, available also on www.associazioneATF.org website. The Italian certification will run for 10 years, after which it will need to be renewed.

Coming soon, a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Environment and the accreditation body Accredia, which will then receive requests from certification bodies. Those, in collaboration with training centres as Centro Studi Galileo will offer the examinations to obtain the F-Gas Certification – “Patentino Frigoristi”.

For the past year Centro Studi Galileo has already been able to offer exam sessions to obtain the European F-Gas Certification, in collaboration with the leading certifying English organisation, Business Edge.

For the principle of mutual recognition, the Licence obtained in any European country is valid in all the others, so the European F-gas certification is valid throughout Europe and in Italy.

In the past year, more than 200 technicians have already been certified and now that the decree has been published in Italy they have already complied with the new legislative requirements.

Technicians who will want to buy and get hold of fluorinated refrigerants, must be in possession of the Certificate.

Technicians and organisations holding the License will be the only ones authorized to complete the logbook by filling in the data. This logbook is defined in the format and methods of distribution by the Ministry of the Environment, on its website (coming soon).

For all the updated information www.centrogalileo.it  or add on Facebook or Twitter “Centro Studi Galileo”.

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