August 2012

The Japan Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Industry AssociationVol. 12-03

1. Ordinary General Assembly held
In April this year, JRAIA completed its reform to harmonize with the revised Law on Public Interest
Corporation System. The 1st ordinary general assembly after the reform was held on June 1 at Hotel
Laforet Tokyo.
In the meeting, the businessand financial report for fiscal
2011 as well as the businessand budget plan for 2012
weredeliberatedapproved.

Sinya

andOkada,senior executive officer of Daikin Industry, Ltd., was appointed the new chairman, replacing thepredecessor Katsuhiko Fujiwara of Panasonic Home Appliances Co. Under the new chairman, JRAIA
will contribute to the HVAC&R industry for the next 2 years.
Chairman Okada, in his inauguration speech, expressed the following 4 important tasks on which wehave to focus.
Responsibility for global environmental issues
JRAIA tackles continuously implementing and accelerating various measures on refrigerants toprevent global warming, and carries on further improving energy efficiency of air conditioners andproviding high energy efficiency equipment.
Nowadays, developing countries are forced by the Montreal protocol to convert from HCFCs toalternate refrigerants. As a result, discussion and search of the next generation refrigerants areactively being made. Meanwhile, EU is reviewing the F-GAS regulation, including the phase-out of
HFC refrigerants having high energy saving performance but with high GWP. To cope with thesesituations timely, JRAIA not only researches the next generation refrigerants that areenvironmentally-friendly, superior in performance, economical and safe, but also supports theindustry in developing advanced technology to use the next generation refrigerants. Through theseactivities, we would assist every country in selecting the proper refrigerant for the appropriate
application.

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Implementation of Measures
JRAIA adopted a guideline and voluntary action plans to raise further transparency in indication ofequipment performance. We steadily implement our guideline and voluntary action plans this year.
Equipment Safety in Use
JRAIA launches establishment of industry guidelines in accordancewith the revised Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law, andmakes equipment safety information known to the public.Now we
see the fact that refrigerant in air conditioner is replaced withHC-based mixture not specified by the equipment manufacturer
under the catch-phrase of further energy saving. As it may cause
serious damage not only to the equipment but also to humans andproperty, we are continuously giving customers a strong warningand information about the right way to use the equipment.
International Activities
ICARHMA 2012 will take place in October in Japan. We, as a host country, are going to present ourleading-edge technology and challenges to environmental issues during the meeting. In addition,
Kobe International Symposium will take place in November this year. These would be good
opportunities to strengthen international communication. Also, JRAIA participates in international
activities such as producing ISO/IEC standards to reflect our position and comments in thesestandards as much as possible.
During the meeting, the awards were presented to ten members who contributed to their committee
activities.
2. OEWG held in Bangkok
The 32nd meeting of the Open Ended Working Group of the Montreal Protocol was held in Bangkok
from 23 to 27 July at the UN Conference center in Bangkok. Main argument is reduction of HFC
under Montreal protocol. Both North American and Micronesian proposals are to modify the protocol
to mitigate Climate Change effects of HFCs. Many countries supported the idea but several or moredeveloping countries opposed it. As there were no consensus, so the issue will be sent to MOP
24(Meeting of Parties to the Montreal protocol. ) Other issues such as TEAP rules and such are also
discussed.
Fully utilizing this occasion, the JRAIA met experts of EU key countries including Germany, Italy,
Poland, and such for discussion on f-gas regulation revision. They do not anticipate drastic
regulation such as HFC ban, but they expect a bunch of minor changes such as HFC consumption
cap and phase down.

23. RAC and PAC Domestic Shipments
RAC shipments in April dropped by 15%, which is a negative growth for the first time in threemonths. Consumers, however, seem still to be interested in energy-saving products. PAC shipments
in June reached a record high over the last five years. This appears to be caused by reconstruction
after the Great East Japan Earthquake
Apr 2012
units※Y on Ybasis %

May 2012
units

Y on Ybasis %Jun 2012
unitsY on Y
basis %

RAC

483,21586.2

884,622109.7

1,420,429

96.6

PAC

54,835

106.4

66,083101.1

84,865101.5

RAC: Residential Air-conditioners

PAC: Commercial Air-conditioners

The International Symposium2012 in Kobe
JRAIA is pleased to inform you that “TheInternational Symposium on New Refrigerants
and Environmental Technology 2012” will takeplace on 8 & 9 November at International
Conference Center Kobe, Main Hall, Kobe,
Japan.
Please visit the following site for more
information
http://www.jraia.or.jp/english/symposium/index.html

Office: Kikai Shinko Bldg. 201. 3-5-8, Shibakoen, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0011, Japan
URL: http://www.jraia.or.jp Contact: tajima@jraia.or.jp:kao224@jraia.or.jp

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