Stakeholders updated on changes to environment protection laws |20 November 2019
Stakeholders involved in the refrigeration sector, including refrigerant technicians, were yesterday updated by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change on the amendments that have been made to the Environment Protection (Ozone) Regulations 2010.
These new amendments to the regulation will come into effect as from January 1, 2020, in line with Seychelles’ recent ratification of the Kigali Amendments to the Montreal Protocol – which has been described as the world’s most successful international environmental treaty.
It was developed with the aim of stopping the depletion of the ozone layer.
The 2016 Kigali Amendment of the international treaty is aimed at drastically reducing hydro-fluorocarbons (HFCs) by phasing down its production and consumption to 80% by 2045.
HFCs are potent heat-trapping greenhouse gasses with long atmospheric lifetimes and high global warming potential (GWP), and are the byproduct of processes such as refrigeration.
In line with the Kigali Amendments, the department of energy and climate change has proposed a total of six amendments to its current regulation and which were approved by the cabinet of ministers.
“We have done prior consultative workshops with the technicians but now that the legislative amendments have become a fait-accompli, so they have to made aware of what will happen as from next year,” senior ozone officer at the department of energy and climate change, Inese Chang-Waye, said.
The first such amendment is the adoption of Annex F Group I and II of the Kigali amendment into the country’s legislative frameworks to enable Seychelles to implement the phase-down of the HFCs.
“In 2024 we will impose a freeze level, and from then on we will start reducing this level by 10% by 2029, reduce to 35% by 2035 and we will have to have reduced it to a total of 80% by 2045,” Ms Chang-Waye highlighted.
Another amendment will introduce standards for the use of hydrocarbon and ammonia, which are two natural refrigerants that are the best alternatives to gasses that are high in global warming potential.
These standards will have to be approved by the Seychelles Bureau of Standards (SBS).
Ms Chang-Waye explained that because hydrocarbon is flammable and ammonia is toxic, the department will have to ensure that all local and foreign technicians are well-qualified and have the proper certifications.
Technicians will be classified from Class 1 to 3, depending on the equipment they are experienced in installing and maintaining.
These technicians will have to demonstrate their capabilities in handling, installing and disposing these refrigerant gasses.
Moreover, the amendments will make it mandatory for all big developments such as hotels and malls to use either a central cooling system or split act units, and they will be further required to be detailed in their environment impact assessment.
Additionally, an environmental levy will be placed on HFC dependent equipment (refrigerators/air-conditions units) to act as a deterrent to discourage importers from importing them.
Meanwhile imported refrigerant gas and equipment having less than 100 global warning potential are to be exempted from Value Added Tax (VAT).
Ferdinand Desnousse, representative of Desnousse & Sons air-conditioning company, said that the workshop will help technicians better understand how to handle refrigerants and proper install equipment.
“I personally believe that students following the one-year course in refrigeration provided by SIT (Seychelles Institute of Technology) need more experience. There are some technicians who sometimes do not practice what they have learnt and want to cut corners, but that is dangerous. I am glad that the ozone unit is becoming stricter,” Mr Desnousse said.
Elsie Pointe