Arlington, Virginia, USA, 27 September 2018: The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has pre-published a proposed rule on ‘Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Revisions to the Refrigerant Management Program’s Extension to Substitutes’, re-evaluating its approach to regulating HFCs, AHRI said in a Press communiqué.

According to AHRI, in 2016, the EPA extended its leak-repair provisions to appliances using substitute refrigerants, but not for ozone-depleting refrigerants. If finalised as proposed, this action would rescind the leak-repair and maintenance requirements of 40 CFR 82.157 for substitute refrigerants. Therefore, appliances with 50 or more pounds of substitute refrigerants would no longer be subject to the following requirements: conduct leak rate calculations when refrigerant is added to an appliance; repair an appliance that leaks above a threshold leak rate; conduct verification tests on repairs; conduct periodic leak inspections on appliances that exceed the threshold leak rate; report to EPA on chronically leaking appliances; retrofit or retire appliances that are not repaired and maintain related records, the communiqué said.

According to AHRI, EPA will host a public hearing, for comments, 15 days after the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register.