How to obtain the French refrigerant capacity certificate

The attestation de capacité is the document that allows a company to buy, charge, recover and leak-test refrigerants. Without it, a distributor may not legally sell any refrigerant to the business: the contract may be signed and the crew available, but the charge will not happen. Here is how to obtain it, in the right order.

What the capacity certificate actually covers

The scheme is set out in article R. 543-99 of the French Environment Code, within the section on refrigerants used in thermodynamic equipment (articles R. 543-75 to R. 543-123). It flows from the European framework on fluorinated greenhouse gases, currently Regulation (EU) 2024/573 of 7 February 2024.

The certificate covers the company — what the regulation calls the opérateur (operator) — not its employees. It is issued by a body approved by the ministers for the environment and industry, for a maximum of five years.

This is the first place people go wrong: many tradespeople assume their own personal certificate is enough. It is not. The two documents are distinct and cumulative, as set out on the full scheme page.

The two substantive conditions

The capacity certificate is not issued on a simple declaration. Two cumulative conditions apply.

Professional competence. The company must employ staff holding the attestations d’aptitude (personal handling certificates) provided for by article R. 543-106, matching the activities it carries out. These are issued to individuals by an assessment body after a written and a practical test.

Tooling. The company must hold suitable tooling in sufficient quantity for the activities concerned: recovery unit, leak detector, scales, manifold gauge set, test equipment. The exact list depends on the categories applied for.

The phrase “sufficient quantity” deserves attention. It is assessed against the crews working simultaneously, not against the existence of one item in the depot. A firm with six technicians across three vans cannot justify a single recovery unit.

The four steps

1. Map the activities actually carried out. Leak testing, commissioning, maintenance and servicing, recovery — and on which equipment. That scope determines which personal certificate categories are needed and the reach of the capacity certificate. The common mistake is to declare the widest possible scope “to be safe”, then to have to evidence tooling and skills the company does not have.

2. Put staff through the assessments. Each technician sits the test with an assessment body, in the category concerned. Preparatory training is not legally compulsory, but the practical test is no formality, and a failure delays the whole company’s timetable. On choosing the category, see our article on the personal certificate categories.

3. Assemble the tooling. Ideally before filing, since evidence is requested with the application.

4. File the application with an approved body. The file brings together the staff certificates and proof of tooling. The certificate is issued within two months of receipt of the application.

That two-month deadline is the figure to hold on to for commercial planning. It only runs from a complete file: a company that discovers the topic while signing its first contract is already two months behind, plus the time needed for assessments and for buying missing tooling.

What begins once the certificate is issued

The scheme does not stop at issuance. Two ongoing duties structure the five years of validity, and this is where most difficulties arise.

The annual refrigerant movement declaration. Each year the operator files with the body that issued its certificate a statement covering the previous calendar year: for each refrigerant, the quantities purchased, charged, recovered and transferred, plus stocks at 1 January and 31 December. That declaration is cross-checked against distributors’ invoices.

The inspection visit. During the validity period, the approved body carries out at least one site visit to verify the information filed and the consistency of refrigerant movements. Where a shortcoming is not put right, it may withdraw the certificate after inviting the holder to comment.

The practical advice fits in one sentence: the intervention record is filled in on site, not at the desk in January. A spreadsheet kept up to date — date, site, equipment, refrigerant, quantity charged, quantity recovered — makes the annual declaration trivial.

Why the regulator insists

The requirement can feel fussy. It is explained by what circuits actually release. A study by Francis, Maidment and Davies published in 2016 in the International Journal of Refrigeration analysed 1,464 maintenance records from two major UK supermarket chains, documenting the real nature and location of leaks — mostly pipe or joint failures and seal defects on compressor packs and high-pressure liquid lines (see the study).

The argument is not only climatic. A study by Kim and Braun published in 2012 in the same journal measured the effect of charge level on the performance of several air conditioners and heat pumps: a charge reduction of around 25 % comes with a significant degradation of energy efficiency and capacity (see the study). A leaking installation consumes more for less service — a commercial argument as much as an environmental one.

The 2026 watch point: the reform under way

The framework is being rewritten. Two orders of 21 November 2025, published in the Official Journal in December 2025, recast how the capacity certificate (article R. 543-99) and the personal certificate (article R. 543-106) are issued, in order to implement Regulation (EU) 2024/573. They widen the scope to natural refrigerants and hydrocarbons and introduce a periodic knowledge update.

The deadlines circulating in the trade press are not all consistent. Get your approved body to confirm in writing the timetable applicable to your company and to each of your certified staff. It is the only party that stakes its liability on the answer. Our article on what F-Gas III changes covers the main lines.

Do not confuse it with RGE qualifications

One last useful clarification: the capacity certificate is not a professional qualification and does not open access to the RGE mark (Reconnu Garant de l’Environnement, the state mark making renovation work eligible for public subsidies). A company installing heat pumps that wants its quotes to qualify for renovation aid needs, in addition, a qualification such as those in the Qualit’EnR portfolio. The two routes are independent, with separate bodies, criteria and timetables.

Take action

Start with an inventory: who holds a personal certificate, in which category, and when does the company’s capacity certificate expire? If a single person carries the certificates the business depends on, have a second one certified — it is the investment with the clearest return. Find the full set of requirements, categories and ongoing duties on the scheme page.