About the Refrigerant Handling Licence

Who needs a licence?

A Refrigerant Handling Licence must be held by any person who carries out work in relation to refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) equipment. Carrying out work in relation to RAC equipment means to do anything with a fluorocarbon refrigerant, or a component of RAC equipment, that carries the risk of refrigerant being emitted, including: decanting the refrigerant or manufacturing, installing, commissioning, servicing or maintaining RAC equipment or decommissioning RAC equipment.

Handling Refrigerants?

Handling fluorocarbon refrigerant without a Refrigerant Handling Licence is an offence. National regulations are in place which affect people who acquire, possess, dispose of or handle ozone depleting substances or synthetic greenhouse gases.

Click here to read more about each licence and what is required to obtain the licences.

Licence Fees

Under the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Regulations (1995), Regulation 346 provides for the annual indexation of permit application fees. The annual indexation formula uses the Wage Price Index (WPI) figures, published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Due to the WPI figures released in November 2017, RAC licence fees will increase by 2.006% from 1 January 2018.

For further information about the changes to permit fees, visit the Department of the Environment's website at www.environment.gov.au or contact the Australian Refrigeration Council via email at enquire@arctick.org