#TECP2611213AFrance updates certification rules for fire protection equipment using fluorinated gases and substitutes
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Updates France’s certification rules for people and companies working on fixed fire protection equipment, now expressly including portable fire extinguishers. The scope now covers fluorinated greenhouse gases listed under the new EU F-gas rules, as well as named substitute substances such as FK-5-1-12, trifluoromethyl iodide, and 2-BTP. Businesses, technicians, approved training and certification bodies, and auditors in the fire protection sector need to align with the new EU references and updated certificate processes. Existing personnel certificate holders under the old EU regime must complete an in-person refresher assessment by 12 March 2029 or their certificate will stop being valid and they will need to retake the exam.
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Key Changes
- Expands the French fire protection certification regime to clearly include portable fire extinguishers.
- Updates the covered substances to match the EU 2024 F-gas framework and adds named substitute agents.
- Replaces old EU Regulation 304/2008 references with the new EU Implementing Regulation 2025/625 framework.
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Obligations
What this law requires
Personnel and companies carrying out regulated activities on fixed fire-protection equipment, now expressly including portable fire extinguishers, must hold the applicable certificates where the equipment contains fluorinated greenhouse gases listed in Annex I or Annex II section 1 of Regulation (EU) 2024/573, or the substitute substances FK-5-1-12, trifluoromethyl iodide, or 2-BTP.
Individuals holding a personnel certificate issued under Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 304/2008 must complete a one-off refresher assessment under Article 9 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/625; if they do not do so by the deadline, their old certificate ceases to be valid and they must retake the examination required by Article 8 of the amended French order.
Approved bodies providing the one-off refresher assessment must deliver the assessment in person and include at least item 1 of the reference framework in Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/625.
After a one-off refresher assessment, the approved body must issue a dated and signed refresher certificate identifying at least: the approved body’s name and stamp, the holder’s first and last name, the refresher certificate number, the number of the certificate issued under Regulation (EC) No 304/2008, and the date of issue.
Bodies seeking approval to issue personnel certificates must provide, in their approval file, the certificates corresponding to the activities assessed for examiners, the procedures manual for issuing, suspending and withdrawing certificates, data communication and archiving procedures for individual and general assessment results, complaints-handling procedures, and resource and organisational procedures guaranteeing independence and impartiality.