Quick answer
Regulation (EU) 2024/573 works with two roles: the operator and the undertaking that carries out the work. The standing duties attached to the equipment sit with the operator. The competence and execution duties sit with the firm doing the job.
- The operator ensures the equipment is checked for leaks (Article 5(1)), has a leakage detection system where the text requires one (Article 6(1) and (2)), that records exist (Article 7(1)) and that the gas is recovered (Article 8(1)).
- The firm doing the work must be certified (Article 4(7) and Article 10(1) and (2)), keeps copies of the records (Article 7(2), point (b)) and verifies a subcontractor's certificate before assigning work to it (Article 10(12)).
- Both are caught by the prohibition on intentional release (Article 4(1)) and by the duty to repair without undue delay (Article 4(5)).
Who the operator is does not follow from the contract but from the definition in Article 3, point (5). The only alternative the text provides is the owner, where a Member State designates the owner as being responsible for the operator's obligations in specific cases.
No model contract, no national designation rules, no civil liability, no insurance and no penalty amounts. The page follows the text of the Regulation only and states, for each duty, whom the text names.
Who the text calls the operator
Article 3, point (5) defines the operator as the undertaking exercising actual power over the technical functioning of products, equipment or facilities covered by the Regulation, or the owner designated by a Member State as being responsible for the operator's obligations in specific cases.
The definition therefore has two limbs. The first is factual: who actually controls the technical functioning. The second is a matter of national law: a Member State may designate the owner. The Regulation provides no third route, and in particular no route by which the parties can agree to move the status between themselves.
"Undertaking" is defined in Article 3, point (27) as any natural or legal person carrying out an activity referred to in the Regulation. A sole trader can therefore be an operator just as a company can.
The leak-check duty is not written for operators alone. The text says "operators and manufacturers of equipment". A manufacturer still holding the equipment is caught by the same obligation.
In practice the useful question is not who signed the service contract, but who decides whether the plant runs, who decides on repairs, and who lives with the technical decisions. Those are factual indicators, not criteria written into the Regulation; the text uses a single formula, actual power over the technical functioning.
The duty map: whom each article names
The table below repeats the wording of the text. The right-hand column is not an interpretation: it is the addressee the article itself names.
| Duty | Basis | Whom the text names |
|---|---|---|
| Ban on intentional release | Article 4(1), first subparagraph | A general prohibition; the second subparagraph names operators of equipment and of facilities |
| Precautions against unintentional release | Article 4(3) | Operators and manufacturers of equipment, operators of facilities, and undertakings in possession of the equipment during transport or storage |
| Precautions during production, storage, transport and transfer | Article 4(4) | The undertaking concerned |
| Repair without undue delay | Article 4(5), first subparagraph | Operators and manufacturers of equipment, operators of facilities, undertakings in possession during transport or storage |
| Verification check after a repair | Article 4(5), second subparagraph | Operators of equipment subject to Article 5(1); the check is carried out by a certified natural person |
| Certification of persons and firms | Article 4(7), Article 10(1) and (2) | The natural persons carrying out the work and the legal persons carrying it out |
| Leak checks | Article 5(1) | Operators and manufacturers of equipment |
| Who performs the check | Article 5(3), closing subparagraph, and Article 5(4) | Certified natural persons; for the equipment in paragraph 3, point (c), persons holding at least a training attestation |
| Leakage detection system | Article 6(1) and (2) | Operators of stationary equipment |
| Checking the detection system | Article 6(3) and (4) | Operators |
| Equipment records | Article 7(1) | Operators |
| Keeping records for at least five years | Article 7(2), points (a) and (b) | Operators for the records; undertakings carrying out the paragraph 1, point (e) activities for the copies |
| Recovery of the gas | Article 8(1), (2) and (3) | Operators; the recovery itself is carried out by certified natural persons |
| Checking a subcontractor | Article 10(12) | The undertaking assigning the activity |
| Purchasing the gas | Article 11(6) | Certified natural persons, or undertakings employing such persons |
| Selling non-hermetically sealed equipment to an end user | Article 11(7) | The seller, who needs evidence that a certified undertaking will install it |
For the check intervals see leak check frequency; for detection systems, when they are mandatory.
Where the contractor is named explicitly
Article 4(7) has three subparagraphs, each with a different addressee.
- First subparagraph: natural persons carrying out the activities in Article 10(1), first subparagraph, points (a), (b) and (c), shall be certified and shall take precautionary measures to prevent leakage.
- Second subparagraph: legal persons carrying out the installation, maintenance or servicing, repair or decommissioning of the equipment listed in Article 5(2), points (a) to (e), and Article 5(3), points (a) and (b), shall be certified.
- Third subparagraph: natural persons working on air-conditioning equipment in motor vehicles within the scope of Directive 2006/40/EC and on the mobile equipment in Article 5(3), point (c), shall hold at least a training attestation.
The legal-person certification list in Article 10(2) stops at Article 5(2), point (e). Electrical switchgear, point (f), appears in the natural-person list in Article 10(1), point (a), but not in the legal-person list.
Article 8(1), second subparagraph, adds that recovery is carried out by natural persons holding the relevant certificates provided for in Article 10, and Article 11(6) ties the purchase of the gas itself to the certificate. The certificate categories are set out in the guide on F-gas certificate categories, and the buying side in who can buy refrigerant.
What a contract can and cannot move
A service contract can organise performance: who attends site, at what intervals, with what equipment, who keeps the diary, who fills in the sheets. What it cannot do is change the addressee named in the article.
The Regulation contains no provision permitting the operator's obligations to be transferred by agreement between the parties. Article 3, point (5) names one alternative only: the owner designated by a Member State.
The practical consequence is straightforward. If a check was missed, Article 5(1) is still written for the operator, whatever the contract says. If the record is missing, Article 7(1) is still written for the operator. A contract may settle who bears the cost between the parties, but it does not change who the text addresses.
The reverse is equally true: a contract does not relieve the servicing firm of its own duties. Certification under Article 4(7), the copies under Article 7(2), point (b), and the verification required by Article 10(12) remain its own, even if the customer asks otherwise.
An undertaking shall only assign an activity referred to in paragraph 1 or 2 to another undertaking after verification that the latter holds the necessary certificates. The verification comes before the assignment, not after.
Records are kept on both sides
Article 7(1) requires the operator to keep records for each piece of equipment that must be checked under Article 5(1). Point (e) is what links the two roles: the record must state the identity of the undertaking which installed, serviced, maintained and, where applicable, recovered, repaired, checked for leaks or decommissioned the equipment, including its certificate number, and where that undertaking is a legal person, the identifying details of both the undertaking and the natural person performing the operations.
Article 7(2) sets the retention periods, unless the records are stored in a database set up by the competent authorities: point (a) requires the operator to keep the records for at least five years, and point (b) requires undertakings carrying out the point (e) activities for operators to keep copies of the same records, also for at least five years.
Two further sets of records fall purely on the commercial side: Article 7(3), records of purchasers of gas, and Article 7(4), records kept by sellers of non-hermetically sealed equipment. Both run for at least five years.
Field by field, the sheet is described in the guide on F-gas equipment records. For the recovery duty at decommissioning, see refrigerant recovery.
Common mistakes
- "The service company is the operator, because it holds the certificate." The certificate concerns carrying out the work (Article 10). Operator status follows Article 3, point (5).
- "We have a maintenance contract, so the duties have moved." The text provides for no such transfer. Article 5(1) and Article 7(1) remain written for the operator.
- "The owner is always responsible." Only where the Member State has designated the owner, in the cases provided for, under Article 3, point (5).
- Subcontracting without checking. Article 10(12) requires the certificates to be verified before the activity is assigned.
- The servicing firm keeps no copies. Article 7(2), point (b) gives it a five-year duty of its own, in parallel with the operator.
- Forgetting the manufacturer. Article 5(1) and Article 4(3) and (5) expressly name manufacturers of equipment as well.
Checklist for a two-party job
- The quotation or contract states who the operator isThe criterion remains Article 3, point (5), but a clear statement prevents confusion on site.
- The equipment falls under Article 5(1)If so, the records in Article 7(1) and the verification check in Article 4(5), second subparagraph, apply.
- The person doing the work holds the right certificateArticle 4(7) and Article 10(1); for vehicle air conditioning, a training attestation.
- The firm holds a legal-person certificate where the text requires oneArticle 10(2), for the equipment in Article 5(2), points (a) to (e), and Article 5(3), points (a) and (b).
- The subcontractor was verified before the work was assignedArticle 10(12).
- The gas was bought by an undertaking entitled to buy itArticle 11(6); collecting, transporting and delivering may still be done by non-certified undertakings.
- The operator's record was completed at the end of the jobArticle 7(1), points (a) to (g).
- The firm filed its own copyArticle 7(2), point (b), at least five years.
- If a leak was found, the repair and the follow-up check are scheduledArticle 4(5); the timing is covered in the dedicated guide.
Frequently asked questions
Can I take over my customer's operator status by contract?
The Regulation does not provide for it. Article 3, point (5) ties operator status to actual power over the technical functioning and names one alternative only: the owner designated by a Member State. A contract can organise performance and can settle matters between the parties, but it does not change the addressee named in Articles 5, 6, 7 and 8.
Who answers if a check was missed?
Article 5(1) is written for operators and manufacturers of equipment. Who carries out the check is a separate question, dealt with in Article 5(3), closing subparagraph, and Article 5(4), which require certified persons and, respectively, persons holding at least a training attestation.
Is the landlord or the tenant the operator of a building's plant?
The text does not answer this directly. The factual test in Article 3, point (5) applies — actual power over the technical functioning — together with the possibility for a Member State to designate the owner as responsible for the operator's obligations in specific cases. Check the national implementing act.
Does the company need certification too, not just the technician?
Yes, for the equipment listed in Article 5(2), points (a) to (e), and Article 5(3), points (a) and (b): Article 4(7), second subparagraph, and Article 10(2) require the legal person to be certified. Electrical switchgear, point (f), does not appear in the legal-person list.
Can a servicing firm buy gas for a non-certified customer?
Article 11(6) allows the purchase only by certified natural persons or by undertakings employing such persons, for the purpose of installing, maintaining, servicing or repairing the listed equipment. The second subparagraph adds that non-certified undertakings which do not carry out those activities may still collect, transport or deliver the gas.
What happens to the records when the service company changes?
The record stays with the operator, under Article 7(1). Each undertaking that carried out the point (e) activities keeps its own copy for at least five years under Article 7(2), point (b). In practice the incoming firm needs the history in the operator's record to know when the next check falls due.
Official sources
Every reference above was checked against the Official Journal text. The English language version was used for terminology.
Currency of this guide and limits of responsibility
This page reproduces the allocation of duties as written in Regulation (EU) 2024/573. It does not decide who the operator is in a particular case, it does not replace the national implementing act, and it is not a model contract.
General information prepared by EgoLog from the Regulation and from official European Commission material. It is not legal advice.
Work on circuits containing fluorinated greenhouse gases may be carried out only by certified persons, under the conditions of Article 10. If you do not hold the certificate required for the activity, do not carry it out.