New F-Gas Penalties: Are You Prepared?
UK Authorised Treatment Facilities for End of Life Vehicles and individual Vehicle Dismantling Technicians, could be at risk of fines up to £200,000 if they breach the new F‑Gas regulations that entitle local government bodies and authorities to apply civil penalties for non-compliance.
The Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases (Amendment) Regulations 2018 were laid before Parliament in January and enforcement bodies will be entitled to apply penalties from April 2018.
The aim of the penalties is to act as a deterrent to companies and individuals for non-compliant behaviours.
There are various levels of fines that can be applied depending on the offence:
- The maximum fine that could be imposed is £200,000. This would be enforced due to the intentional release of F‑Gases such as R134a into the environment, which is also deemed as a criminal offence.
- Failing to comply with regulations and procedures for minimising emissions or leakage could incur penalties of up to £100,000. This could also be applied if F‑Gases are not properly recovered from End of Life Vehicles.
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