August 2014

The Japan Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Industry AssociationVol. 14-03

1．Ordinary Annual General Meeting
JRAIA held its ordinary annual general meetingat Tokyo Marriott Hotel on June 6. In the meeting,the business report and financial statements forfiscal year 2013 as well as the business and budget
plans for fiscal year 2014 were deliberated andapproved. At the same time, recast of JRAIA’s
board members was also approved. Ichiro Hongo,
executive officer of Toshiba Carrier Corporation,
was appointed the new chairman, replacing thepredecessor Shinya Okada of Daikin Industry, Ltd. In the next 2 years, JRAIA will contribute to
the HVAC&R industry under the new chairman. Furthermore, Tetsuji Okada was appointed thenew president of JRAIA, replacing the previous president Tetsuro Kishimoto due to his retirement.
Chairman Hongo, in his inauguration speech, expressed the important tasks on which we have tofocus. The excerpt is as follows.
JRAIA will continuously address the following three key issuesof environment-related measures, such as global warming
prevention, that would significantly affect sustainable growth ofHVAC&R industry and that are drawing a lot of attention fromthe public.
The 1st issue is to research the next generation refrigerants.
That research is still continuing, since existing candidates of thenext generation refrigerants cannot sufficiently fulfill therequirements. It is needed that we tackle actively various tasks
to develop equipment using low GWP refrigerants and promotewidespread use of those equipment, while taking safety,
economical efficiency and performance into account.
The 2nd is proper management of HFCs. To comply with detailed
rules, which are under consideration, for the revised version ofIchiro Hongo,
Chairman of JRAIA

Fluorocarbons Recovery and Destruction Law, we will move forward our effective and concrete
efforts to make the importance of equipment check and maintenance known to the public and1

promote enlightenment activities for further recovery of HFCs and so on.
The 3rd is participation in producing HVAC&R related standards. For instance, some of low GWP
refrigerants which are candidates of the next generation refrigerants are classified into A2L, i.e. mildflammability. In consideration of the use of A2L refrigerants, not only national standards but alsointernational standards like ISO and IEC are currently under review. These standards should bereviewed with prospects for future movement. We will be acting to properly reflect our industry’s
opinions in the standards by strengthening our activities both at home and abroad.
In addition to the above-mentioned key issues, we will continue to address ‘product safety,’‘international collaboration’ and many other critical issues.
Substantial change in the market circumstances surrounding JRAIA is a big chance for ourHVAC&R industry to expand its market, because our industry holds the world’s pre-eminent positionin ‘energy-saving’ and ‘environmental adaption technology.’ Both emerging and developed countries
are greatly expecting our contribution to advanced technologies in the refrigeration and airconditioning field as well as to the environmental issues. Taking this opportunity and meeting theseexpectations, I believe, will enable us to contribute further to global environmental issues andenhance our industry competitiveness.
As Chairman, I would like to be fully committed to accomplishing our missions in close cooperation
with our members.

2. The 8th Three Association Annual Meeting
Three associations, CRAA (China Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Industry Association), KRAIA(Korea Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Industry Association), and JRAIA (Japan Refrigerationand Air Conditioning Industry Association), held their annual meeting at Daikin ALES AOYA inTottori Prefecture, Japan on June 3.
Early in the meeting, Ms. Miki Yamanaka of Daikin,
who was invited as a guest speaker, made apresentation on “Refrigerant R32 for Air Conditioners& Heat Pumps – Already on the Market.” Then, eachassociation provided the latest market statistics,
regulatory trends, and updates on the alternativerefrigerants to HFCs. Following the presentations,vigorous discussion was made on various issues.
CRAA,

KRAIAandJRAIA

arecontinuouslycontributing to growth of the industry in their2

respective countries by deepening the relationships among the three. The next annual meeting isscheduled for 2015 in China.

3. Revised Fluorocarbons Recovery and Destruction Law
The Act for Rationalized Use and Proper Management of Fluorocarbons, so-called the Revised
Fluorocarbons Recovery and Destruction Law, was approved in June 2013 and will come into force on1st April 2015.
The Act aims not only to recover and destroy fluorocarbons from and in commercial air conditioning
and refrigeration units when they are disposed based on the current Act, but also to take measuresin each step of manufacturing and use of fluorocarbons as well as products using them. Thus, the Act
will promote fundamental measures covering the whole life cycle of fluorocarbons, from their
manufacturing to disposal.
Detailed rules for the Act are under examination and will be determined by the end of 2014.
Main points of the revised Act are as follows.
1. Entities that manufacture and import f-gases
These entities shall submit the phase-down plan of f-gases with GWP value to the government,and also report the production and import volume of f-gases.
2. Entities that manufacture and import products using f-gases
The government sets the target of weighted average GWP value and certain target fiscal years toaccelerate use of lower GWP refrigerants in specified products. The specified products will bedefined by the end of 2014. These entities shall comply with the target.
3. Users that manage commercial refrigeration and air conditioning equipment
Regular check for the equipment with certain output capacity of compressor is mandatory.
Frequency of check, based on its capacity, will be specified. Also, these users shall report theleakage amount exceeding certain level to the government. Repeated refrigerant charge to theequipment is prohibited.
4. Charge and recovery of f-gases
Entities that carry out charging and recovering refrigerants to/from equipment shall report thecharged and recovered amount of f-gases to the local government. These entities shall issue acertificate of refrigerant charge and recovery to the equipment owner. To accelerate refrigerant
recovery, it is made public that owners of equipment are responsible for refrigerant recovery.
5. Promotion of reclaimed refrigerant use
Reclamation operators of refrigerants are licensed by the government. Use of reclaimed
refrigerants shall be accelerated.

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4. Domestic Shipments January – June 2014
RAC

PAC

units

Y on Y basis %units

Y on Y basis %January

574,958

138.7

60,959119.0

February

674,511140.8

66,144

117.9

March

801,247

107.2

82,453

114.9

April

468,790

121.0

52,746107.3

May766,869

90.3

65,81499.5

June

1,511,166

94.4

85,278103.6

RAC: Residential Air-conditioners PAC: Commercial Air-conditioners

5. Message from the new president of JRAIA
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
I’m very glad to say hello to all of you at this moment.
I was approved as President of the Japan Refrigeration and Air
conditioning Industries Association (JRAIA)” on 6th of June. I’ve been
mainly engaged in the development and designing of the air
conditioners and the heat pump hot water systems. Especially in thenearest 4 years I was involved in the production of the air conditioners
in UK and the lobbying activities towards EU Commission and so on inBelgium. At present the issues of refrigerants and the energy efficiency
related to the global environment are truly crucial for our refrigeration
and air conditioning industries. I realize that the activities from theglobal view as well as the domestic one are very important.
JRAIA joins a lot of the international conferences such as ICARHMA
meeting and organizes the Kobe symposium that can get the excellent
reputation. I’m convinced that we can contribute many activities in theglobal environmental perspective. It is willing to cooperate with themember companies for their success by clarifying our strategy,
strengthening the compliance and the governance.

Tetsuji Okada,President of JRAIA

I really appreciate for your kind support and understanding.

Tetsuji Okada
President
The Japan Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Industry Association

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6. The International Symposium 2014
JRAIA is pleased to inform you that The International Symposium 2014 on New Refrigerants andEnvironmental Technology will be held on 20th and 21th November 2014 at Kobe in Japan. The
participants will share the result of study for environment issue, new refrigerants and their system,
safety analyses of 2L refrigerants, compressors and lubricants, and etc.
For more information, please visit the URL below.
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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