Notice to undertakings intending to place hydrofluorocarbons in bulk on the market in the European Union in 2020

(2019/C 154/06)

1. This Notice is addressed to any undertaking wishing to make a declaration to place hydrofluorocarbons in bulk on the market in the Union in 2020, in accordance with Articles 16(2) and 16(4) of Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 1 ) (hereafter ‘the Regulation’): (a) producers and importers for which a reference value has been determined for the period 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2020 by Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/1984 (2) (3); (b) all other producers and importers that intend to place at least 100 tonnes of CO2 equivalent of hydrofluorocarbons in bulk on the Union market in 2020.

2. Hydrofluorocarbons means substances listed in section 1 of Annex I to the Regulation, or mixtures containing any of these substances: HFC-23, HFC-32, HFC-41, HFC-125, HFC-134, HFC-134a, HFC-143, HFC-143a, HFC-152, HFC-152a, HFC-161, HFC-227ea, HFC-236cb, HFC-236ea, HFC-236fa, HFC-245ca, HFC-245fa, HFC-365mfc, HFC-43-10mee.

3. Any placing on the market of these substances, except for the uses listed in Article 15(2) points (a) to (f) of the Regulation or a total annual quantity of these substances of less than 100 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, is subject to quantitative limits under the quota system laid down in Articles 15 and 16 as well as Annexes V and VI to the Regulation.

4. The Commission allocates quota to the undertakings concerned. The United Kingdom submitted on 29 March 2017 the notification of its intention to withdraw from the Union pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. As of the withdrawal date, hydrofluorocarbons placed on the market of the United Kingdom are no longer within the scope of Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 and do no longer count towards the quota allocated by the Commission to producers and importers (4).

5. All data submitted by companies, quotas and reference values are stored in the electronic HFC Registry set up in accordance with Article 17 of the Regulation, which is accessible online via the ‘F-gas Portal and HFC Licensing System’ (5). All data in the HFC Registry including quotas, reference values, commercial and personal data will be treated as confidential by the European Commission.

6. Importers must at the time of release for free circulation of HFCs have a valid registration as importers of bulk HFCs in the HFC Registry accessible online via the ‘F-gas Portal and HFC Licensing System’ (6) in accordance with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/661 (7). Such a registration is also considered an obligatory licence for import. A similar licence is needed for exporting HFCs (8).

7. Importers should be specified as ‘Consignee’ (box 8) on the Single Administrative Document (SAD). Importers are strongly encouraged to specify the amounts of HFCs in CO2 equivalents at the time of release for free circulation directly in the SAD (box 44) as this may greatly facilitate the custom clearance of their goods and establishment of their compliance with Regulation (EU) No 517/2014.

For producers and importers for which a reference value has been determined, as referred to in point 1 a) of this notice, only:

8. Such undertakings will receive 89 % of 63 % (i.e. 56,07 %) of their relevant reference value as quota for 2020, according to Article 16(5) as well as Annexes V and VI to the Regulation.

For all undertakings, as referred to in point 1 a) and b) of this notice:

9. According to Annex VI to the Regulation, the sum of the quotas allocated on the basis of reference values according to paragraph 8 above is subtracted from the maximum quantity available for 2020 to determine the quantity to be allocated from the reserve.

10. Undertakings wishing to obtain quota from this reserve need to follow the procedure described in points 11 to 14 of this notice.

11. According to Articles 16(2) and 17(1) of the Regulation, the undertaking needs to have a valid registration profile, approved by the Commission in accordance with Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/661, as a producer and/or importer of hydrofluorocarbons in the online HFC Registry, accessible via the ‘F-gas Portal and HFC Licensing System’ ( 9 ) . In order to ensure due treatment of the application for registration, including the possible need for additional information, such an application must be made at the very latest one month before the start of the declaration period, i.e. before 17 May 2019 (see point (12). For any applications received after this deadline it cannot be ensured that a final decision on the application for registration can be made before the end of the declaration period (see point (12). For companies that are not yet registered, guidance on how to register is available on the DG CLIMA website ( 10 )

12. The undertaking must make a declaration on (additional) anticipated quantities for 2020 in the electronic HFC Registry accessible online via the ‘F-gas Portal and HFC Licensing System’ ( 11 ) in the declaration period from 17 June to 17 July 2019, 13.00 CET.

13. Only duly completed declarations on (additional) anticipated quantities that are free of errors and received before 17 July 2019, 13.00 CET will be considered as valid by the Commission.

14. Based on these declarations, the Commission will allocate quota to these undertakings in accordance with Article 16(2), 16(4) and 16(5) as well as Annexes V and VI to the Regulation.

15. Article 7 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/661 stipulates that for the purpose of the quota allocation for placing hydrofluorocarbons on the market pursuant to Article 16(5) of Regulation (EU) No 517/2014, all undertakings with the same beneficial owner(s) shall be considered as one single declarant in accordance with Article 16(2) and (4) of the Regulation.

16. The Commission will inform the undertakings about the total allocated quota for 2020 via the HFC Registry within the ‘F-gas Portal & HFC Licensing System’.

17. The registration in the HFC Registry accessible via the ‘F-gas Portal & HFC Licensing System’ and/or a declaration on intention to place hydrofluorocarbons on the market in 2020 by itself does not give any right to place hydrofluorocarbons on the market in 2020.

(1) Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on fluorinated greenhouse gases and repealing Regulation (EC) No 842/2006 (OJ L 150, 20.5.2014, p. 195).

(2) Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/1984 of 24 October 2017 determining, pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on fluorinated greenhouse gases, reference values for the period 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2020 for each producer or importer which has lawfully placed on the market hydrofluorocarbons from 1 January 2015 as reported under that Regulation (OJ L 287, 4.11.2017, p. 4).

(3) Decision (EU) 2017/1984 has been amended in view of a withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union by Commission Implementing Decision C(2018) 8801 final.

(4) See Brexit preparedness notices https://ec.europa.eu/info/brexit/brexit-preparedness/preparedness-notices_en

(5) https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/ods2/resources/domain

(6) https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/ods2/resources/domain

(7) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/661 of 25 April 2019 ensuring the smooth functioning of the electronic registry for quotas for placing hydrofluorocarbons on the market (OJ L 112, 26.4.2019, p. 11).

(8) See also Article 1.2 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1375.

(9) https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/ods2/resources/domain

(10) https://ec.europa.eu/clima/sites/clima/files/f-gas/docs/guidance_document_en.pdf

(11) https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/ods2/resources/domain