Selling pre-charged equipment to end users: the evidence rule

Short answer

The rule is one sentence long, and it changes the whole sales process.

• The condition is evidence, not the buyer's certificate. The text does not require the end user to hold a certificate. It requires evidence that the installation is to be carried out by a certified undertaking.
• The seller keeps the records. Article 7(4): undertakings which sell such equipment shall keep records of the equipment sold and of the certified undertakings that will carry out the installation, for at least five years.
• The rule is about equipment, not bulk gas. Cylinders are governed by Article 11(6), a quite different condition. See selling refrigerant to service companies.

The four conditions hidden in Article 11(7)

The sentence is short but contains four elements that have to be checked separately. If one is missing, the rule does not apply; if all four are present, it applies in full.

Three observations that matter in practice.

First: "end user" is not defined in the Regulation. Article 3 contains 46 definitions and this is not among them. In the absence of a definition, apply the ordinary meaning: the person or undertaking that will use the equipment, not the one that will sell it on. Where you are unsure, the safe course is to treat the sale as a sale to an end user and obtain the evidence.

Second: the evidence is about the installation, not about the buyer. The text says the installation "is to be carried out by an undertaking certified in accordance with Article 10". A buyer with no qualification at all may buy lawfully, provided it is evidenced who will do the installation.

Third: the certification required is the undertaking's. Article 10(2) provides for the certification of legal persons to carry out the installation, maintenance or servicing, repair or decommissioning of the equipment listed in Article 5(2), points (a) to (e), and in Article 5(3), points (a) and (b). The undertaking's certificate states the activities allowed and, where relevant, the charge size limit expressed in kilograms, under Article 6(2) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2215.

Hermetically sealed or not: where the rule stops

Whether Article 11(7) applies at all turns on a technical definition, not on the product's commercial name.

Three cumulative elements: made tight during manufacture, at the manufacturer's premises, by a permanent connection; capped valves or service ports permitted for repair or disposal; and a tested leakage rate below the stated threshold. If one is missing, the equipment is not hermetically sealed within the meaning of the Regulation.

From that follows the practical line at the counter:

• Split systems almost always fall under the rule. Article 3, point (39), defines a split system as a system consisting of a number of refrigerant piped units that form a separate but interconnected unit, requiring the installation and connection of refrigerant circuit components at the point of use. Connecting on site is precisely the opposite of being made tight in the factory.
• Monobloc units have to be checked individually. Article 3, point (38), defines "self-contained" as a complete factory-made system in a suitable frame or casing in which no gas-containing parts are connected on site. Such a unit may meet the hermetically sealed definition, but only if the manufacturer declares and labels it as such.
• The label tells you. Article 12(3), second subparagraph, point (a), requires the label to indicate, where applicable, a reference that the fluorinated greenhouse gases are contained in hermetically sealed equipment. The absence of that reference is a strong sign that Article 11(7) applies.

The full treatment of hermetically sealed equipment, including its effect on leak checks, is in the dedicated guide on hermetically sealed equipment.

What the words 'evidence is provided' mean

The Regulation asks for evidence but prescribes no form. There is no European form, no mandatory template and no central register. That leaves the seller latitude, and also the responsibility of choosing evidence that survives an inspection.

The useful starting point is Article 7(4): if your record has to identify the equipment sold and the certified undertakings that will carry out the installation, then the evidence has to make exactly those two identifications possible. A document that does not is of no use to you five years later.

The elements you can derive from the text, without inventing requirements:

• Identification of the undertaking that will install, including its certificate number. Article 6(2), point (a), of Regulation (EU) 2024/2215 provides that a legal person's certificate contains the name of the certification body, the full name of its holder, a certificate number and the date of expiry, if any.
• Verification of the certificate's coverage. Article 6(2), point (b), requires the certificate to state the activities the holder may carry out and, where relevant, the charge size limit expressed in kilograms. A limited certificate does not cover every piece of equipment.
• The link to the actual sale: identification of the equipment sold, so that the record required by Article 7(4) can be completed.

Two things the text does not require, so that you do not ask for more than the law does: it does not require the work to have been carried out at the time of sale, since it speaks of the installation that is to be carried out; and it does not require the end user to hold any certificate.

One thing national law does require you to check: Member States may set out the modalities of proof in their implementing acts. Check the national act before fixing your internal procedure.

The seller's record: content, period, recipient

Article 7(4) is short and has to be read word by word, because it differs from the other paragraphs of the same article.

Three differences from the rest of Article 7:

• The content is twofold, not itemised. Unlike paragraph 1, which lists seven categories of information for the equipment record, paragraph 4 asks for two things only: the equipment sold and the certified undertakings that will carry out the installation.
• The recipient is the national authority only. Paragraphs 2 and 3 provide for making records available to the competent authority of the Member State concerned or to the Commission. Paragraph 4 names only the competent authority of the Member State concerned.
• The duty is the seller's. Paragraph 1 is addressed to the operator of the equipment. Paragraph 4 is addressed to the undertaking that sells.

For comparison, paragraph 3 concerns bulk gas and requires, for the purposes of Article 11(6), records of relevant information on the purchasers, including the certificate number of each purchaser and the respective quantities of the gases purchased, also kept for at least five years. The two records are different and do not substitute for one another: if you sell both gas and pre-charged equipment, you need both.

The equipment record the operator will keep once the system is in service is described in the equipment records guide.

The other checks at the counter

The evidence rule is not the only condition for a pre-charged unit to be sold lawfully. Three further checks come before it.

1. Is the equipment still allowed? Article 11(1), first subparagraph, prohibits the placing on the market of products and equipment listed in Annex IV, with an exemption for military equipment, from the date specified in that Annex, differentiating where applicable according to the type or global warming potential of the gas contained. The full timetable is in the ban timetable.

2. Can you prove old stock was lawfully placed on the market? Article 11(1), fifth subparagraph: one year following the individual dates listed in Annex IV, the subsequent supply or making available to another person in the Union of products or equipment lawfully placed on the market before that date is allowed only if evidence is provided that the product was placed lawfully on the market prior to that date. Remaining stock therefore calls for a second, separate piece of evidence.

3. Is the label complete? Article 12(1) allows refrigeration equipment, air-conditioning equipment and heat pumps to be placed on the market, subsequently supplied or made available only if they are labelled. Article 12(4) requires the label to be written in the official languages of the Member State in which the good is to be placed on the market, made available or supplied. For pre-charged equipment, Article 1(5) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2174 adds that where equipment is pre-charged and gas may be added outside the manufacturing site without the manufacturer indicating the resulting total, the label shall contain the quantity charged at the manufacturing site, or the quantity for which the equipment is designed, and shall provide space for the quantity added outside the manufacturing site and the resulting total, to be inserted by the supplier or, where applicable, the installer before the equipment is put into operation. The detail is in the equipment label guide.

If the equipment comes from outside the Union, the requirements of Article 19 on products and equipment pre-charged with hydrofluorocarbons are added; they are covered in the guide on importing pre-charged equipment.

Selling online

Article 11(7) draws no distinction by sales channel. The evidence condition applies identically over the counter, on the telephone and in an online shop.

What the Regulation adds is a specific control mechanism, written for authorities rather than for traders. Article 29(3) provides that checks include on-site visits and checks of online platforms. The second subparagraph spells it out:

The practical consequence for an online shop is simple: the listing itself can be checked. Two elements of a listing are directly verifiable without anyone touching the product.

• The description used for advertising. Article 12(16), second subparagraph, requires that, for products and equipment containing fluorinated greenhouse gases listed in Annexes I and II with a global warming potential of 150 or more, the information referred to in paragraphs 3 and 5 also be included in descriptions used for advertising.
• The instruction manuals. The first subparagraph of the same paragraph requires that information to be included in the instruction manuals for the products and equipment concerned.

How the evidence step is organised inside a distance ordering process is not regulated by the European text. Set up a procedure that produces, before despatch, exactly the two identifications Article 7(4) demands.

Checklist before every sale

• Establish whether the equipment is hermetically sealedArticle 3, point (9); also check the label reference required by Article 12(3), second subparagraph, point (a).
• Confirm the gas in the chargeThe rule applies to gases listed in Annex I and in Section 1 of Annex II.
• Establish whether you are selling to an end userThe Regulation does not define the term; where in doubt, treat the sale as a sale to an end user.
• Obtain the evidence of certified installation before deliveryArticle 11(7): the installation is to be carried out by an undertaking certified in accordance with Article 10.
• Check the installer's certificate coverageArticle 6(2) of Regulation (EU) 2024/2215: the activities allowed and, where relevant, the charge size limit in kilograms.
• Complete the record on the day of saleArticle 7(4): the equipment sold and the certified undertaking that will carry out the installation.
• Keep the record for five yearsArticle 7(4); made available, upon request, to the competent authority of the Member State concerned.
• Check Annex IV for that productArticle 11(1), first subparagraph: the placing on the market prohibition from the date specified in the Annex.
• For old stock, prepare the lawful-placing evidenceArticle 11(1), fifth subparagraph, one year after the individual dates in Annex IV.
• Inspect the label and the space for the added quantityArticle 12(3) and (4); Article 1(5) of Regulation (EU) 2024/2174.
• Align the online listingsArticle 12(16), second subparagraph, for advertising descriptions; Article 29(3) for platform checks.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

Articles 3, 7, 10, 11, 12, 19, 29 and 31 of the Regulation were read in the Official Journal text. The implementing regulations are cited for the undertaking's certificate and for the label on pre-charged equipment.

How current this page is, and the limits of our liability

General information prepared by EgoLog on the basis of Regulation (EU) 2024/573 and Implementing Regulations (EU) 2024/2215 and (EU) 2024/2174. It is not legal advice.

Do not encourage or enable installation by uncertified persons. Installing a refrigerant circuit means working under pressure and, with many modern refrigerants, with flammable fluids; the competence limit is also a safety limit.