F-Gas 2027 rules for chillers: a guide for plants in Italy
From 1 January 2027, new chillers using today's most common refrigerants, R410A and R134a, can no longer be placed on the European market. This is not an obligation to replace: the chiller in your plant stays legal, and you can run it, service it and recharge it. What changes is the price and availability of the gas. This guide is for anyone running a plant in Italy, including foreign-owned sites: dates from the regulation, costs from public sources, Italian obligations from the national decrees. We are a refrigeration contractor based in Naples.
What really changes on 1 January 2027
Regulation (EU) 2024/573 on fluorinated greenhouse gases, in force since 11 March 2024, replaced the previous Regulation 517/2014 (text on EUR-Lex). It is a regulation, not a directive: it applies in Italy directly, with no national transposition law. For chillers, point 7 of Annex IV sets three dates:
- from 1 January 2027 no more placing on the market of chillers above 12 kW using gases with a GWP of 750 or more;
- from 1 January 2027 the same for chillers up to 12 kW using gases with a GWP of 150 or more;
- from 1 January 2032 no fluorinated gases at all in chillers up to 12 kW.
GWP measures how much a gas warms the climate compared with CO2: R410A scores 2088, R134a 1430. Placing on the market is the first supply within the Union: the ban hits new machines, not those already sold or running.
Your chiller is already installed: what stays legal
Use, servicing and spare parts. Article 13 bans servicing with virgin gases of GWP 2500 or more, such as R404A: from 2025 for refrigeration, from 2026 for air conditioning and heat pumps. R410A and R134a sit below that threshold, and the 2032 ban on servicing with gases of GWP 750 or more explicitly excludes chillers. A chiller on R410A or R134a can be serviced for its entire working life: the constraint is not the law, it is the gas.
Bought in 2026, installed in 2027. What counts is the date of first supply within the Union: Article 13, paragraphs 19 and 20, allows commissioning after the ban if the operator can prove the machine was already on the market, with the documentation kept for five years. The manufacturer's invoice is the proof.
The safety exemption. If a flammable refrigerant is not permitted at your site, by law or under a technical standard, a higher-GWP chiller remains allowed: no prior authorisation, but the reason goes on the label and the operator keeps the evidence. Case by case, never for a whole category.
The dates that matter
| Date | What happens | Does it affect your plant? |
|---|---|---|
| 1/1/2025 | Servicing with virgin gas of GWP ≥2500 (R404A) banned | Only if you run R404A or similar |
| 1/1/2026 | Same ban for air conditioning and heat pumps. Quota levy of €3 per tCO2eq on virgin gases | The gas costs more |
| 1/1/2027 | No new chillers above 12 kW with GWP ≥750, or up to 12 kW with GWP ≥150. HFC quota almost halved | No obligation on installed plant; gas dearer and scarcer |
| 1/1/2032 | No fluorinated gases in new chillers up to 12 kW | Small chillers |
Which gases pass the threshold
For HFCs the regulation uses the values of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report: that is why R32 scores 675 and passes the 750 threshold.
| Refrigerant | GWP | Safety class | Chillers above 12 kW from 2027 | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R404A | 3922 | A1 non-flammable | Banned | Servicing with virgin gas already banned |
| R410A | 2088 | A1 | Banned | Servicing allowed, no retrofit |
| R407C | 1774 | A1 | Banned | Servicing allowed |
| R134a | 1430 | A1 | Banned | Retrofit to R513A possible |
| R32 | 675 | A2L mildly flammable | Allowed | Scroll chillers up to about 1,000 kW |
| R513A | ≈ 630 | A1 | Allowed | Replacement for R134a |
| R454B | ≈ 465 | A2L | Allowed | New machines only |
| R1234ze | ≈ 1 | A2L | Allowed | Screw and centrifugal |
| R290 propane | 0.02 | A3 flammable | Allowed | Plant room or contained circuit |
| R717 ammonia | 0 | B2L toxic | Allowed | Dedicated plant room |
| R744 CO2 | 1 | A1 | Allowed | High pressures |
GWP values from Annexes I, II and VI of the regulation; safety classes per ISO 817 (BITZER).
In the plant room. An A2L gas in an indirect-expansion chiller, outdoors or in a plant room, raises no particular constraints. Propane (A3) requires an EN 378 assessment (charge, ventilation, detector, ATEX zones where needed); manufacturers now keep it inside the machine, with glycol water to the load. That is why we propose R290 and R32 where the law allows them and the return is real.
The obligations you already have today
The operator, under the regulation, is the owner or the plant manager, not the service contractor. There are three obligations.
Leak checks. Mandatory from 5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent; with a detector the intervals double.
| Charge in CO2 equivalent | R410A | R134a | R32 | Check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| from 5 t | from 2.4 kg | from 3.5 kg | from 7.4 kg | Every 12 months, records mandatory |
| from 50 t | from 23.9 kg | from 35 kg | from 74 kg | Every 6 months |
| from 500 t | from 239 kg | from 350 kg | from 741 kg | Every 3 months, detector mandatory |
Example: a chiller holding 40 kg of R410A has 40 × 2088 / 1000 = 83.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. It must be checked every six months, every twelve with a detector.
Records and the national database. Every unit needs a record of gas, interventions and technicians, kept for five years. In Italy every intervention goes to the national F-Gas database within 30 days, filed by the certified company (Presidential Decree 146/2018, Article 16).
Penalties. Italian Legislative Decree 163/2019 sets, among others: a missed leak check from €5,000 to €15,000, a missing database report from €1,000 to €15,000, work given to uncertified staff from €10,000 to €100,000 (text of the decree).
What the gas will cost
The quota levy, from 2026. The regulation charges €3 per tonne of CO2 equivalent on HFC quotas, which producers pass on to virgin gas: €6.26 per kilogram on R410A, €4.29 on R134a, €2.03 on R32, zero on HFOs and natural refrigerants. Reclaimed gas is exempt (General Gas notice, September 2025). On the 40 kg recharge in the example that is about €250 of levy alone.
The quota cut, from 2027. The HFCs allowed onto the European market drop from 24.3% to 12.3% of the 2015 baseline: almost half in a single year. At the end of 2025 R410A and R134a prices were stable (monitoring for the European Commission, Q4 2025), but distributors warn that the cut weighs on the gases of older plants (Schiessl). Budget for gas at double the price.
Four routes for anyone with a chiller on R410A or R134a
1. Keep servicing it. Legal with no time limit. It makes sense for machines under eight to ten years old, with leaks under control and a stable load. The risk sits on the gas: the cheapest route today, the most uncertain tomorrow.
2. Retrofit. From R134a to R513A it is realistic: same safety class, same oil, similar performance to be verified on the machine (YORK, Climaveneta). From R410A, no: R32 and R454B need machines designed for them. A retrofit does not save energy: you do it for continuity of supply.
3. Revamping. Inverters, control tuning, free cooling, heat recovery. It does not solve the gas issue, it shrinks it: fewer hours, less stress, fewer leaks. On the plants we have reworked the average saving has been 34%, with consumption logged for at least 30 days before the work.
4. Replacement. It makes sense for machines over 12 to 15 years old, recurring leaks, large charges or extensions (an extension is a new placing on the market). The offer covers every size: R32 and R454B on scroll chillers up to about 1,000 kW, R1234ze and R513A on screw and centrifugal machines, R290 up to about 2 MW in modular configurations, ammonia and CO2 for large capacities.
How to decide. Data loggers on real consumption for at least 30 days, three scenarios with ten-year total cost and payback, including gas at double the price. On a pasteurisation line with an R410A chiller due for replacement, after 45 days of measurement we chose an R290 chiller with heat recovery, installed in a four-day shutdown: consumption down 38% over twelve months, payback 3.2 years net of incentives (the case).
Incentives 2026-2027
To be checked with your accountant or with the GSE (the Italian energy agency) before you count on them:
- Transizione 5.0 is closed (investments by the end of 2025).
- Hyper-depreciation 2026: an uplift on the deductible cost of new capital goods bought between 2026 and September 2028 (180% up to €2.5 million, then decreasing), booked on the GSE platform.
- White certificates: replacing a chiller is filed as a measured-savings project, through an ESCo.
- Conto Termico 3.0 supports heat pumps replacing heating systems, not cooling-only chillers.
Checklist for the plant manager
- Take stock of every chiller: model, capacity, gas, kilograms, year, date of first supply.
- Work out the charge in CO2 equivalent and the check frequency.
- Verify records, database reports and that the contract names a certified company.
- For every R410A or R134a machine write down the chosen route and the year to review it. Before replacing, measure.
Frequently asked questions
Is R410A banned from 2027?
No. From 2027 new chillers above 12 kW using it can no longer be placed on the market. An installed R410A chiller can be used, serviced and recharged.
I bought an R410A chiller in 2026: can I install it in 2027?
Yes, if it was first supplied within the Union before 1 January 2027, and you can prove it.
How often is the leak check due?
Every 12 months from 5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, every 6 from 50, every 3 from 500. With a detector the intervals double.
Can I convert my R410A chiller to R32 or R454B?
No, they need machines designed for them. The realistic conversion is from R134a to R513A.
Do you run a chiller on R410A or R134a in Italy? Send us capacity, gas, charge in kilograms and annual consumption: we call back the same day. Contact the Refrigeration division.