Short answer
Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2024/573 is one long sentence, and it says three things.
- Who has to act: Member States, not undertakings. The text requires them to ensure that by 31 December 2027 the financing obligations for waste electrical and electronic equipment referred to in Articles 12 and 13 of Directive 2012/19/EU also cover the gas.
- What is financed: the recovery, and the recycling, reclamation or destruction, of the fluorinated greenhouse gases listed in Annexes I and II to the Regulation, from products and equipment containing those gases.
- For which equipment: only for items that are electrical and electronic equipment within the meaning of Directive 2012/19/EU and that have been placed on the market from 11 March 2024.
The second paragraph adds a single sentence: Member States shall inform the Commission about the actions undertaken. The article opens with the words "without prejudice to existing extended producer responsibility schemes" — national schemes stay in place, something is added to them.
No fees, contributions or names of national compliance organisations, because the Regulation does not set them and this page cites no national act. No account of how any particular Member State has transposed Article 9 either: the deadline in the text has not yet passed. For the recovery duty itself, which already applies, see the dedicated guide.
What Article 9 says, word for word
Article 9 is headed "Extended producer responsibility schemes" and has no numbered paragraphs. It has two subparagraphs.
Without prejudice to existing extended producer responsibility schemes, Member States shall ensure that by 31 December 2027, the financing obligations for waste electrical and electronic equipment referred to in Articles 12 and 13 of Directive 2012/19/EU include the financing of the recovery, and the recycling, reclamation or destruction, of fluorinated greenhouse gases listed in Annexes I and II to this Regulation from the products and equipment, containing those gases, which are electrical and electronic equipment within the meaning of Directive 2012/19/EU and that have been placed on the market from 11 March 2024.
Four points of drafting are worth noticing, because each one widens or narrows the reach:
- Annexes I and II, not Annex III. Annex I covers the hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and other gases referred to in Article 2, point (a); Annex II covers unsaturated hydro(chloro)fluorocarbons and other fluorinated substances. Annex III is not mentioned in Article 9.
- Products and equipment "containing those gases". Unlike Article 2, point (b), which also covers products whose functioning relies upon those gases, Article 9 speaks only of containing.
- The financing obligations "referred to in Articles 12 and 13". Article 9 does not extend the whole WEEE Directive, but precisely those two financing articles.
- "Placed on the market from 11 March 2024". That is the date of application of the Regulation itself. Older equipment is untouched by this article.
The second paragraph reads: Member States shall inform the Commission about the actions undertaken. No separate deadline and no form is laid down in the Regulation for that notification.
Which equipment is EEE within the meaning of the Directive
Article 9 does not define the equipment. It refers to Directive 2012/19/EU, where the definition sits in Article 3(1), point (a): electrical and electronic equipment means equipment which is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly, and equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields, designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1 000 volts for alternating current and 1 500 volts for direct current.
Since 15 August 2018 the Directive applies, under Article 2(1), point (b), to all EEE, classified within the categories of Annex III (the so-called open scope).
| Annex III category | Relevance for refrigeration work |
|---|---|
| 1. Temperature exchange equipment | The main category. Annex IV, point 1, lists refrigerators, freezers, equipment which automatically delivers cold products, air conditioning equipment, dehumidifying equipment, heat pumps and other temperature exchange equipment using fluids other than water. |
| 2. Screens and monitors with a surface greater than 100 square centimetres | Not directly relevant. |
| 3. Lamps | Not directly relevant. |
| 4. Large equipment (any external dimension more than 50 cm) | May catch related equipment, but not items falling in categories 1 to 3. |
| 5. Small equipment (no external dimension more than 50 cm) | The same, excluding categories 1 to 3 and 6. |
| 6. Small IT and telecommunication equipment | Not directly relevant. |
The exclusions matter at least as much. From 15 August 2018, Article 2(4) of the Directive takes out of scope, among others: large-scale stationary industrial tools; large-scale fixed installations, except any equipment which is not specifically designed and installed as part of those installations; means of transport for persons or goods, excluding electric two-wheel vehicles which are not type-approved; and non-road mobile machinery made available exclusively for professional use. Article 2(3) also excludes equipment necessary for the protection of the essential interests of the security of Member States.
What that means on site: a split air conditioner, a heat pump, a display cabinet or a freezer cabinet will normally be electrical and electronic equipment. A site-built industrial refrigeration plant may fall within the notion of a large-scale fixed installation, in which case Article 9 does not reach it — but the recovery duty in Article 8 of the Regulation applies either way. See the recovery obligation and heat pumps and the Annex IV bans.
Who is a producer — and why the word misleads
In Directive 2012/19/EU, producer does not mean manufacturer. Article 3(1), point (f), lists four situations, and the third one catches most equipment distributors:
- (i) is established in a Member State and manufactures EEE under his own name or trademark, or has EEE designed or manufactured and markets it under his name or trademark within the territory of that Member State;
- (ii) is established in a Member State and resells there, under his own name or trademark, equipment produced by other suppliers; a reseller is not regarded as the producer if the brand of the producer appears on the equipment, as provided for in point (i);
- (iii) is established in a Member State and places on the market of that Member State, on a professional basis, EEE from a third country or from another Member State;
- (iv) sells EEE by means of distance communication directly to private households or to users other than private households in a Member State, and is established in another Member State or in a third country.
Point (g) separately defines the distributor: any person in the supply chain who makes an EEE available on the market. That definition does not prevent a distributor from being, at the same time, a producer within the meaning of point (f).
Article 16(1) of the Directive requires Member States to draw up a register of producers, including producers supplying EEE by means of distance communication. Article 16(2) requires each producer, or each authorised representative, to be registered and to provide the information set out in Annex X. Article 17 allows an authorised representative to be appointed by written mandate where the producer is established in another Member State.
If you place equipment brought in from another country on your national market on a professional basis, you are a producer under the WEEE Directive for that equipment — even if you have never manufactured anything. The financing obligation that Article 9 widens applies to you directly. See also importing pre-charged equipment and selling pre-charged equipment to end users.
What is financed today, and what is added
The existing base. Article 12(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU requires Member States to ensure that producers provide at least for the financing of the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE from private households deposited at collection facilities set up under Article 5(2). Article 13(1) does the same for WEEE from users other than private households, for products placed on the market after 13 August 2005.
What Article 9 of the Regulation adds. Those same financing obligations must, by 31 December 2027, also cover recovery of the gas and its recycling, reclamation or destruction. In practice the cost of dealing with the gas can no longer sit with the treatment facility as an externality: it becomes part of what the producer finances.
Why this is not a technical novelty. The WEEE Directive already required the gas to be taken out of the appliance. Article 8(2) provides that proper treatment shall as a minimum include the removal of all fluids and a selective treatment in accordance with Annex VII; Annex VII, point 1, expressly lists, among the substances to be removed from any separately collected WEEE, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) or hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) and hydrocarbons (HC). Article 5(1) additionally requires a high level of separate collection, notably and as a matter of priority, for temperature exchange equipment containing ozone-depleting substances and fluorinated greenhouse gases.
What Article 9 changes is therefore who pays, not what is done.
The duties that already apply, independently of Article 9, are those in Article 8 of the Regulation: recovery by appropriately qualified natural persons, the prohibition on using recovered gas for filling or refilling equipment unless it has been recycled or reclaimed (Article 8(6)), and the duty to arrange recovery of residual gases from a container immediately prior to its disposal (Article 8(7)). Article 8(13) requires Member States to promote recovery, recycling, reclamation and destruction.
The dates: 11 March 2024, 13 August 2005 and 31 December 2027
Three dates circulate in this file and they do not mean the same thing.
| Date | Where it appears | What it separates |
|---|---|---|
| 13 August 2005 | Articles 12(3), 12(4) and 13(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU | The line between historical waste and products for which each producer is responsible for his own goods. Article 15(2) requires a mark allowing the date of placing on the market to be determined unequivocally. |
| 11 March 2024 | Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2024/573 | Only equipment placed on the market from this date falls within the extension covering the gas. |
| 31 December 2027 | Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2024/573 | The date by which Member States must have ensured that the gas is included in the financing obligations. |
The financing guarantee. Article 12(3), second subparagraph, of the Directive requires each producer to provide a guarantee when placing a product on the market showing that the management of all WEEE will be financed. The guarantee may take the form of participation in an appropriate financing scheme, a recycling insurance or a blocked bank account. The producer may fulfil the obligation individually or by joining a collective scheme.
Historical waste. For products placed on the market on or before 13 August 2005, Article 12(4) provides that the financing is borne by one or more systems to which all producers existing on the market when the costs occur contribute proportionately. For users other than private households, Article 13(1), second and third subparagraphs, splits historical waste in two: waste being replaced by new equivalent products or by new products fulfilling the same function is financed by the producers of those new products when supplying them, and Member States may instead make the professional user partly or totally responsible, while other historical waste is financed by those users. Article 13(2) allows producers and professional users to agree other financing methods.
What is not settled at European level
Article 9 is an obligation of result addressed to Member States. The Regulation fixes none of the things a company would want to be concrete:
- No amount. The Regulation sets no contribution, no tariff per kilogram of gas and no scale per equipment category.
- No structure. The choice between a collective scheme and individual compliance remains, under Article 12(3) of the Directive, the producer’s, within the limits of national law.
- No calculation method. The text does not say whether a Member State must tie the contribution to the type of gas, the charge in kilograms, the CO2 equivalent or the equipment category.
- No form. The second paragraph only requires Member States to inform the Commission about the actions undertaken.
- No penalty of its own. Penalties remain those laid down by Member States under Article 31 of the Regulation and, separately, under Article 22 of Directive 2012/19/EU. See F-gas penalties.
The only valid answer for a given country sits in the national WEEE producer register and in the national act transposing Directive 2012/19/EU, together with whatever amendment implements Article 9. The Commission list of national contact points for fluorinated greenhouse gases is the starting point for questions. Do not assume the scheme in the country where you manufacture is the same as in the country where you sell: Article 16(1) of the Directive requires registration in the Member State where the sale takes place.
Until transposition, nothing changes for a service company: the recovery, record-keeping and labelling duties remain those in the Regulation. What changes, gradually, for a manufacturer or importer of equipment is the cost structure of the product placed on the market after 11 March 2024.
Checklist for an equipment importer or distributor
Nothing in the list below is imposed by Article 9 itself. These are the steps that let a company answer without improvising once the national scheme is widened.
- Establish whether you are a producer under the DirectiveArticle 3(1), point (f)(i) to (iv), of Directive 2012/19/EU. Placing equipment brought in from another country on the national market on a professional basis is enough.
- Check whether the equipment is EEEThe definition in Article 3(1), point (a), and the exclusions in Article 2(3) and (4), in particular large-scale fixed installations.
- Split the stock by date of placing on the marketArticle 9 applies only to equipment placed on the market from 11 March 2024.
- Confirm registration in the national producer registerArticle 16(1) and (2) of the Directive; registration is made in the Member State where you sell.
- Check whether you need an authorised representativeArticle 17(1) and (2); the appointment is by written mandate.
- Prepare the gas data for each modelGas type, charge in kilograms and CO2 equivalent already appear on the label required by Article 12 of the Regulation.
- Check the financing guaranteeArticle 12(3), second subparagraph, of the Directive: collective scheme, recycling insurance or blocked bank account.
- Settle the end-of-life route for the equipmentArticle 8 of the Regulation requires recovery by appropriately qualified natural persons, whatever the financing scheme.
- Keep the recordsArticle 7 of the Regulation for equipment, and Article 16(2) of the Directive for registration data.
- Track the national transposing actThe deadline in Article 9 is 31 December 2027; until then the applicable scheme is the existing one.
Frequently asked questions
Does Article 9 place a direct obligation on my company?
No. The addressee is the Member State: it must ensure that, by 31 December 2027, the financing obligations in Articles 12 and 13 of Directive 2012/19/EU also cover the gas. A concrete obligation for an undertaking arises only through the national transposing act and the rules of the scheme it joins.
Does it apply to equipment I sold in 2023?
No. The text limits the extension to products and equipment placed on the market from 11 March 2024. Earlier equipment stays under the existing national WEEE rules, including the historical-waste regime in Articles 12(4) and 13(1) of the Directive.
My equipment runs on propane or ammonia. Am I concerned?
Does a site-built industrial chiller fall under Article 9?
It depends on how it is classified against Article 2(4), point (c), of the Directive, which excludes large-scale fixed installations except equipment which is not specifically designed and installed as part of them. That classification is a case-by-case question. Whatever the answer, the recovery duty in Article 8 of the Regulation applies. See chillers and Annex IV.
Who pays if I sell online into another Member State?
Article 3(1), point (f)(iv), of the Directive treats distance selling directly to users as producer activity, and Article 16(1), second subparagraph, requires registration in the Member State sold into, either directly or through the authorised representative provided for in Article 17(2).
Does this scheme replace the recovery duty on site?
No. They are two different things. Recovery at decommissioning remains the operator’s duty under Article 8 of the Regulation and must be carried out by appropriately qualified natural persons. Article 9 concerns the financing of the treatment of the appliance once it has become waste. See refrigerant recovery.
Official sources
Article 9 was read in full in the Official Journal text, and the cited articles and annexes of Directive 2012/19/EU were checked against the text of the Directive. No national act is cited.
How current this page is, and the limits of our liability
This page reproduces Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2024/573 and the articles of Directive 2012/19/EU to which it refers. It does not contain tariffs, contributions or the names of national schemes, and it does not describe how any Member State has transposed Article 9, because the deadline in the text is 31 December 2027. Check the national act and the national producer register before taking a commercial decision.
General information prepared by EgoLog from the official text of the Regulation, the Directive and European Commission material. It is not legal advice.
The annexes to the Regulation and the text of the Directive may be amended. Work on equipment containing fluorinated greenhouse gases is carried out by persons certified under Article 10 of the Regulation; this page does not invite anyone to carry out work they are not qualified for.