Work victory: Companies do not have to enter thousands of new devices in the FOKA register
At the beginning of February, the Chamber proposed to the Riigikogu not to pass the draft amendments to the Atmospheric Air Protection Act initiated by the Environmental Committee, which would have imposed an obligation on undertakings to enter up to 20,000 additional devices in the FOKA register. The Riigikogu listened to us and the draft act was not passed as an Act.
The draft act pending before the Riigikogu provided for the registration in the FOKA register of all products, equipment or systems specified in the relevant EU regulations containing at least five tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent F-gases in order to ensure an appropriate overview of them by the state.
According to the current law, hermetically sealed cooling and air-conditioning systems, heat pumps and electric power stations if they do not meet certain criteria, refrigeration equipment for refrigerated trucks and trailers or organic Rankine cycle processes shall not be entered in the register.
In February, the Chamber announced in a letter to the Environmental Committee of the Riigikogu that it opposes the planned amendment. We pointed out that the change will lead to a large increase in administrative burdens for businesses, as well as additional workload for the state.
If today, to our knowledge, just under 6,000 devices have been registered in the FOKA register, then upon entry into force of the amendment, this number would have increased several times and up to 20,000 devices, such as refrigerated trucks and heat pumps, would have had to be added to the register. However, the explanatory memorandum to the draft act did not contain any impact analysis and information on the fact that the amendment would entail a high administrative burden for undertakings and additional workload for the public sector.
According to the draft act, the planned amendment would have entered into force on 1 January 2024. We consider it positive that the Riigikogu did not pass this draft act as an Act.
The draft act is available for reading here.
The Chamber’s letter to the Environmental Committee of the Riigikogu can be read here.