GovWire

You must get quota to produce or import bulk hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) - the most common type of fluorinated gas (F gas) - into Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).

Your quota is the quantity of HFCs you are allocated to place on the market in Great Britain, calculated in equivalent tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2).

If your organisation shares a beneficial owner with an organisation registered on the F gas service, only one organisation can apply for quota as a new entrant.

If youre an equipment importer or authorisation manager, you cannot apply for a quota. Youll need to get quota authorisations from a quota holder instead.

How to apply for F gas quota

To get quota you must first register for an F gas account.

You must apply for quota to produce F gas or import it to Great Britain each year if you want to:

• produce or import HFCs equivalent to 100 tonnes or more of carbon dioxide in a year for the first time as a new entrant
• increase your quota if youre an incumbent quota holder

Incumbent quota holders

Youre an incumbent quota holder if you placed HFCs on the market in Great Britain between 2015 and 2019 and:

• used your EU quota to import HFCs to Great Britain
• used your EU quota to supply HFCs to someone in Great Britain
• did not need to use EU quota to supply HFCs to someone in Great Britain because they were already in free circulation in the EU27 market and you owned the HFCs when they entered Great Britain

If youre an incumbent quota holder the Environment Agency will:

• give you quota by the end of December each year, based on your market share
• recalculate how much quota you can apply for every 3 years based on how much HFCs you put on the market in Great Britain

If you are not an incumbent quota holder (you put HFCs on the market for the first time in 2019 or later) you are classified as a new entrant.

When to apply for F gas quota

You can only apply during the application window, which runs each year from 30 June to 31 August.

New entrants will be given quota allocation by the end of December.

You must get quota before you place goods on the market.

Once you have quota

You can:

• use it yourself to produce or import HFCs
• authorise an equipment manufacturer or importer to use your quota
• transfer your quota to another F gas producer or importer (unless you are a new entrant)
• import bulk HFCs to Great Britain to pre-charge equipment for export (you will need the necessary EU quota authorisations for export to the EU)

Importing bulk HFCs to pre-charge equipment for export

If you want to import HFCs to Great Britain to pre-charge equipment for export, youll need EU quota authorisations to export the pre-charged equipment to the EU and Northern Ireland.

If you get bulk gas from an EU-based producer or importer, they can authorise you to use their EU quota to export equipment back to the EU and Northern Ireland. The EU-based producer must have GB quota to import the HFCs into Great Britain.

If you do not get enough quota

Your consignment will be held at customs until the National Clearance Hub and the Environment Agency have checked to ensure that goods are legal.

Its against the law to place HFCs on the market in Great Britain if you do not have enough quota. You could receive:

• a civil penalty - see the Environment Agencys enforcement sanctions policy
• a quota penalty - the Environment Agency will take off 200% of the amount you imported above your quota allocation from your next quota allocation

For example, if you imported gas equivalent to 100 tonnes of CO2 more than your quota, the Environment Agency will take off 200 tonnes from your quota for the following year. They may take it from your future quota until your penalty is spent.

When you do not need quota

You do not need quota for HFCs:

• that you import to Great Britain for re-export only (you do not place it on the market) - check the inward processing procedure instead
• for uses exempt from the phase-down

Recycled or reclaimed HFCs

You do not need quota if you are recovering HFCs from equipment that has previously been placed on the market in Great Britain.

You do need quota if you are importing HFCs that have been recovered from equipment outside Great Britain.

Apply for a F gas quota if youre not based in Great Britain

If your organisation is based outside Great Britain and Northern Ireland and you want quota, you must have a representative that is:

• a companybased in Great Britain or Northern Ireland
• responsible for following F gas regulations

Youll need to provide their details and your own when you register on the F gas service.

Apply for EU F gas quota

If you want to place HFCs on the EU market, check the European Commission website.