GERMANY: The German air conditioning and refrigeration industry has questioned new government proposals to combat the illegal trade in F-gases at a time when current legislation is not being enforced.

The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) has presented an amendment to Germany’s Chemicals Act which would introduce additional requirements to track refrigerants along the supply and use chain. This would make it mandatory for every purchase and sale of refrigerants to be documented and declared.

The Federal Association of German Refrigeration Plant Builders (BIV), the Association of German Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Specialists (VDKF) and the Central Association of Cold and Air Conditioning Heat Pumps (ZVKKW) argue that, in addition to being impractical, this would create considerable additional bureaucracy at a time when the authorities are struggling to implement the current F-gas regulations.

The groups also insist that the new legislation risks impacting the competitiveness of German manufacturers and are concerned that it creates the possibility of generally banning F-gases nationally or restricting them beyond the F-gas ordinance.

 2020/8/19 10:00:20   Source：产业在线ChinaIOL