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

The Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Regulations 1995 allow 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. Consistent with the WPI figures released in November 2018, refrigeration and air conditioning industry permit application fees will increase by 2.282 per cent from 1 January 2019.

Also, from 1 January 2019, the default duration for refrigerant handling licences and trading authorisations will be three years, except for refrigerant trainee licences which will remain at one year.  You can apply for a licence or authorisation of a shorter duration, for example for one or two years, by contacting the ARC via email at enquire@arctick.org  

A table outlining the current fees and fees for 2019 is below.

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