F-Gas Regulation (EU) 2024/573

A factual overview for refrigeration/AC technicians in Germany and Austria — every statement below comes from the regulation text or the relevant national implementing decree, not from third-party summaries.

⚠️ This is not legal advice. When in doubt, the original text of the regulation or the responsible authority always governs.

EU level: Regulation (EU) 2024/573

Art. 5 — Leak checks: mandatory from ≥5 t CO₂e (Annex I) or ≥1 kg (Annex II §1) charge. Check interval: under 50 t CO₂e every 12 months (24 months with a leak-detection system); 50–500 t CO₂e every 6 months (12 months with a system); at 500 t CO₂e or above every 3 months (6 months with a system). Exemption: hermetically sealed systems under 10 t CO₂e (Annex I) or under 2 kg (Annex II §1); hermetically sealed residential systems under 3 kg.
Art. 8 — Recovery: mandatory at decommissioning, only by personnel certified under Art. 10.
Art. 10 — Certification: three routes — a full personal certificate (installation/maintenance/repair/decommissioning), a lighter "training attestation" route (MAC systems and certain mobile equipment only), and a company certificate for legal entities.

Germany: ChemKlimaschutzV

Full name: "Regulation on protecting the climate from changes caused by the release of certain fluorinated greenhouse gases and implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/573" — issued 14 April 2026, in force since 17 April 2026.

Structure: §5 personal requirements · §6 competence certificates · §7 conversion · §8 refresher courses · §9 recognition of bodies · §10 certification of legal entities · §14 operator duties.

Common mistake: many trade-chamber fact sheets (based on older sources) still cite "§6" for company certification — that was the numbering under the old 2008 version. In the current ChemKlimaschutzV, company certification is §10.

§5(1) sentence 1 (verbatim, German original): "Eine in Artikel 10 Absatz 1 der Verordnung (EU) 2024/573 aufgeführte Tätigkeit darf nur von natürlichen Personen durchgeführt werden, die (1) eine die betreffende Tätigkeit abdeckende Sachkundebescheinigung nach § 6 Absatz 1, 2, 3 oder Absatz 6 oder nach § 7 Absatz 1 vorweisen können…" (only natural persons holding the relevant §6/§7 competence certificate may perform Art. 10(1) activities).

§10(1) sentence 1 (verbatim, German original): "Eine juristische Person oder Personenvereinigung, die Tätigkeiten nach Artikel 10 Absatz 2 der Verordnung (EU) 2024/573 durchführt, bedarf hierfür eines Unternehmenszertifikats nach Absatz 2." (a legal entity performing Art. 10(2) activities needs a company certificate).

§6 competence routes: completed vocational training plus a theoretical/practical exam (per EU implementing regulations 2024/2215, 2025/623, 2025/625, 2025/627) — or a training programme under EU regulation 2025/1893.

Not yet fully primary-source verified: the exact kg thresholds for the four §6 competence categories (fixed refrigeration/AC · recovery at decommissioning · fixed foam-manufacturing equipment · aerosols/mobile equipment). A trade-chamber fact sheet lists four categories, but no single binding kg figure could be confirmed directly in the regulation text — check the original text for the exact threshold.

Austria: FluorGasG 2009 & BGBl. II Nr. 2/2011

Base law: Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Act 2009 (FluorGasG 2009), BGBl. I Nr. 103/2009. Implementing decree for the personal certificate: BGBl. II Nr. 2/2011 (amended by BGBl. II Nr. 69/2018), based on FluorGasG 2009 §4(1). The personal certificate counts as a public document.

Category system (different from Germany): Category I — full authorization, requires a completed apprenticeship exam or master craftsman exam in refrigeration/AC. Category II — authorization limited to low charge quantities for installation/maintenance/service/recovery.

Not yet fully primary-source verified: the exact kg thresholds for Category II (found in the regulation's annex, not the main text) — check the annex directly for the binding figure.

Responsible authority for the company certificate: BMLUK (Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Climate and Environmental Protection, Regions and Water Management), plus the BMLUK F-Gas helpdesk.

Watch for outdated sources: the regulation itself (even in its current consolidated version) still references the old EU Regulation 517/2014 and DVO (EU) 2015/2067 Annex I — an explicit update to 2024/573 could not be found in the primary text. The refrigerant charge-quantity limits formerly in BGBl. II Nr. 139/2007 were repealed by BGBl. II Nr. 234/2021 — older sources sometimes still cite them as valid.

Sources (primary texts)

ChemKlimaschutzV (Germany): gesetze-im-internet.de/chemklimaschutzv_2026/BJNR0640B0026.html (official Federal Ministry of Justice portal)
FluorGasG implementing decree (Austria): RIS (Austria's federal legal information system), Gesetzesnummer 20007102
Regulation (EU) 2024/573: EUR-Lex, Official Journal of the European Union

Last reviewed: 2026-07-24

Reviewed by Anıl Güzeldemir — in the refrigeration machine room since 2006, developer of Enthalio.

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