HFCs, Refrigerants & Fluorinated Gases

Why B&D?

Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) and refrigerant regulation rarely presents as a single-rule compliance question. Companies need to know how products and systems are classified, whether a substitute is permitted, who bears import and reporting obligations, and how allowances affect supply. B&D can help answer those questions and implement those answers into practice through compliance approaches, reporting tools, and operating procedures. The patchwork regulatory framework, as well as the use of these diverse substances in ongoing operations, poses heightened enforcement risk, particularly in the event of emergencies or unplanned releases. B&D’s team stands ready to assist with U.S. federal, state, local, and international enforcement, including related internal investigations or matters that may pose criminal risk.

We advise on the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program, other Clean Air Act (CAA) Title VI requirements, and related state programs. We also advise on related international requirements, including the Montreal Protocol and Kigali Amendment, and (with assistance from specialized local counsel) the EU F-Gas Regulation.

Our team includes lawyers with extensive experience at EPA, Capitol Hill, the U.S. State Department, and elsewhere in the federal government, including experience in Congress helping to draft and negotiate the AIM Act itself. Our enforcement and investigations team includes former U.S. federal and state prosecutors well-versed in environmental and product regulatory actions. B&D’s robust litigation teams stand ready to partner with our HFC regulatory subject-matter teams to mount effective defenses.

Clients

Our work reaches across the refrigerant and fluorinated-gas value chain, from chemical production, importation, and distribution through product manufacturing, equipment operation, servicing, and reclamation.

We advise businesses in the semiconductor, HVAC and refrigeration, appliance, aerospace, automotive, retail, data center and technology, utility, medical device, electrical-equipment, and other sectors. Our clients include chemical producers and distributors, bulk HFC importers, reclaimers, manufacturers and importers of products, equipment, and systems, holders of application-specific allowances, equipment owners and operators, and trade associations.

Capabilities

HFC Supply, Imports & Allowances

The AIM Act allowance system makes HFC supply both a regulatory and a commercial issue. We help clients align allowance requirements with supply and procurement decisions, including allowance transfers and conferrals. Our counseling covers allocations, application-specific allowances, imports and exports, reporting, recordkeeping, and engagement with EPA (including enforcement defense for violations and defending administrative consequences under the AIM Act). We also advise on supply and allowance agreements, including conferral provisions, indemnities, and related contractual issues.

SNAP & Substitute Acceptability

We advise on regulatory classification, substitute acceptability, use conditions, labeling, reporting, and imports for particular products, components, equipment, systems, and end uses. We also address how SNAP requirements fit together with the AIM Act and state programs.

Our lawyers provide strategic guidance on SNAP submissions and EPA review, including responses to agency questions and unresolved interpretation issues. We coordinate with B&D’s Chemicals Regulation practice on related Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requirements and other chemical-regulatory questions.

Products, Equipment & Systems

We counsel clients on the AIM Act’s Technology Transitions Program and related requirements, including product and system classification, manufacture and import restrictions, labeling, reporting, sell-through provisions, exemptions, and transition planning. We help clients evaluate design, sourcing, inventory, and market-entry decisions—and address urgent compliance questions involving products already in commerce or equipment and systems already installed or operating.

U.S. State Law Compliance Counseling and Enforcement Defense

Our state-law work includes HFC requirements in California, New York, Washington, Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and other states. We address the interaction between federal requirements and state programs, including New York’s Part 494, Hydrofluorocarbon Standards and Reporting, California’s HFC Regulation, and Washington’s Chapter 173-443 WAC.

Refrigerant Management & Reclamation

Refrigerant obligations do not end when equipment enters service. We advise on EPA’s Emissions Reduction and Reclamation Program and related requirements involving installation, servicing, leak detection and repair, recovery, recycling, reclamation, disposal, reporting, and recordkeeping, for both HFC and legacy ozone-depleting substances (ODS) systems. We help clients establish service-provider responsibilities and develop procedures and compliance tools for facilities and equipment fleets. Our work also addresses reclaimers, refrigerant suppliers, and other participants in refrigerant management.

Our counseling covers federal and state programs, including California’s Refrigerant Management Program, as well as Section 608 and other CAA Title VI requirements involving ozone-depleting substances and legacy equipment.

SF₆ & Other Fluorinated Gases

We advise on requirements affecting SF₆ and other fluorinated gases, including gas-insulated equipment (GIE) and emissions management, registration and reporting, recordkeeping, transition planning, agency engagement, voluntary disclosures, and enforcement.

The state programs we address include California’s gas-insulated-equipment (GIE) regulation and New York’s Part 495 rules for SF₆ standards and reporting.

Regulatory Advocacy, Enforcement & Litigation

We regularly prepare comments and petitions, pursue requests for interpretation or reconsideration, and represent companies and trade associations before EPA and state regulators. We help clients put legal, technical, and operational concerns before agencies as rules are developed and applied.

We also advise on compliance audits, agency inquiries, internal investigations, corrective action, self-disclosures, enforcement defense, and administrative and judicial challenges.

Representative Matters

• Representing companies in rulemakings involving HFCs used in aircraft and aircraft components, including advocating for exemptions and other regulatory flexibility and preserving potential federal preemption arguments.
• Advising companies on compliance with New York HFC disclosure and labeling requirements.
• Counseling clients on AIM Act implementation and compliance with the HFC production and consumption phasedown.
• Successfully representing a major technology trade association in challenging a phase-out schedule in the Technology Transitions Rule and achieving an extended timeline for compliance through a petition for reconsideration.
• Successfully representing developers in rulemaking proceedings to obtain regulatory flexibility in Technology Transition Rule provisions relating to certain HVAC equipment restrictions.
• Representing clients in defending notices of violations for AIM Act compliance obligations.
• Educating members of a leading trade association on new HFC regulations and developing practical compliance resources, including an HFC regulatory fact sheet.
• Preparing comments on EPA HFC phasedown rulemakings and supporting related advocacy before the Office of Management and Budget.
• Preparing comments on California’s SNAP regulations establishing state HFC prohibitions, including evaluating the implications of HFC reclamation requirements and restrictions for the air conditioning sector.
• Advising companies on import and export control requirements for HFC- and ODS-containing products.
• Counseling and representing electronics importers on the U.S. excise tax on goods manufactured with ODS.
• Advising global clients on essential use exemptions under the Montreal Protocol and national regulatory programs implementing the Protocol.