Definitions

A fluid or refrigerant is a substance, present in liquid and/or gaseous states, used for heat transfer in a refrigerating system. A refrigerant is a working fluid used in the refrigeration cycle of air conditioning systems and heat pumps. Refrigerants are heavily regulated due to their toxicity, flammability, and the contribution of CFC and HCFC refrigerants to ozone depletion and that of HFC refrigerants to climate change.

Refrigerants are also referred to as 'fluid', 'substance', 'Hydrofluorocarbons', or 'fluorinated greenhouse gases', 'coolant'.

Global warming potential or ‘GWP’ means the climatic warming potential of a greenhouse gas relative to that of carbon dioxide (CO2), calculated in terms of the 100-year global warming potential, unless otherwise specified, of one kilogram of a greenhouse gas relative to one kilogram of CO2.

‘mixture’ means a substance composed of two or more substances, at least one of which is a refrigerant.

‘Tonne of CO2 equivalent’ means a quantity of greenhouse gases expressed as the product of the weight of the greenhouse gases in metric tonnes and of their global warming potential.

‘Hydrofluorocarbons’ or ‘HFC’ means the substances listed here or mixtures containing any of those substances, used as refrigerants.

‘Operator‘ means the undertaking exercising actual power over the technical functioning of products, equipment or facilities covered by Regulation (EU) 2024/573 or the owner designated by a Member State as being responsible for the operator’s obligations in specific cases.

‘container’ or cylinder means a receptacle which is designed primarily for transporting or storing fluorinated greenhouse gases (also called refrigerants).

‘Recovery’ means the collection and storage of fluorinated greenhouse gases from containers, products and equipment during maintenance or servicing or prior to the disposal of the containers, products or equipment.

‘recycling’ means the reuse of a recovered fluorinated greenhouse gas following a basic cleaning process, including filtering and drying.

‘reclamation’ means the reprocessing of a recovered fluorinated greenhouse gas to the equivalent performance of a virgin substance, taking into account its intended use, in authorised reclamation facilities that have the appropriate equipment and procedures in place to enable the reclamation of such gases and that can assess and attest to the level of the required quality.

‘destruction’ means the process of transforming or decomposing, permanently and as completely as possible, a fluorinated greenhouse gas into one or more stable substances that are not fluorinated greenhouse gases.

‘decommissioning’ means the permanent removal from operation or usage of a product or of equipment that contains fluorinated greenhouse gases, including the final shutdown of a facility.

‘repair’ means the restoration of damaged or leaking products or equipment that contain fluorinated greenhouse gases or whose functioning relies upon those gases, involving a part containing or designed to contain such gases.

‘installation’ means the process of joining two or more pieces of equipment or circuits containing or designed to contain fluorinated greenhouse gases, with a view to assembling a system in the location where it will be operated, that entails joining together gas-carrying conductors of a system to complete a circuit irrespective of the need to charge the system after assembly.

‘maintenance or servicing’ means all activities, excluding recovery and leak checks, that entail:

‘virgin substance’ means a substance which has not previously been used.

‘leakage detection system’ means a calibrated mechanical, electrical or electronic device for detecting leakage of fluorinated greenhouse gases which, on detection, alerts the operator.

‘feedstock’ means any fluorinated greenhouse gas listed in Annex I or II, that undergoes chemical transformation in a process in which it is entirely converted from its original composition and whose emissions are insignificant.

‘organic Rankine cycle’ means a cycle containing condensable substances converting heat from a heat source into power for the generation of electric or mechanical energy.

‘multipack centralised refrigeration systems’ means systems with two or more compressors operated in parallel, which are connected to one or more common condensers and to a number of cooling devices such as display cases, cabinets and freezers, or to chilled store rooms.

‘primary refrigerant circuit of cascade systems’ means the primary circuit in indirect medium temperature systems where a combination of two or more separate refrigeration circuits are connected in series such that the primary circuit absorbs the condenser heat from a secondary circuit for the medium temperature.

‘use’ means, in relation to fluorinated greenhouse gases, their utilisation in the production, maintenance or servicing, including refilling, of products and equipment, or in other activities and processes referred to in this Regulation.

‘split system’ means a system consisting of a number of refrigerant piped units that form a separate but interconnected unit, requiring the installation and connection of refrigerant circuit components at the point of use.

‘air-conditioning’ means the process of treating air to meet the requirements of a conditioned space by controlling its temperature, humidity, cleanliness or distribution.

‘heat pump’ means a piece of equipment capable of using ambient heat or waste heat from air, water or ground sources to provide heat or cooling and is based on the interconnection of one or more components forming a closed cooling circuit in which a refrigerant circulates to extract and release heat.

‘refrigeration’ means the process of maintaining or lowering the temperature of a product, substance, system or other item.

‘chiller’ means a single system whose primary function is to cool a heat transfer fluid (such as water, glycol, brine or CO2) for refrigeration, process, preservation or comfort purposes.