ARCtick Licence cheat sheet

An RHL is a personal competency licence: the individual named on it is the only person authorised to perform the refrigerant handling work it covers.

Work requiring an RHL includes decanting refrigerant, charging or recovering refrigerant from equipment, and assembling or commissioning refrigerant circuits.

A refrigerant handling licence is issued for a defined scope of work; tasks outside the listed scope are not covered even if the holder has general trade experience.

Handling work must follow the applicable national refrigerant handling code of practice, which sets minimum procedures for recovery, evacuation, and safe disposal.

Refrigerant must not be knowingly vented to atmosphere; recovery into suitable containers is required before opening a circuit or decommissioning equipment.

Recovery cylinders must be refrigerant-rated, not overfilled, and labelled with the refrigerant type; mixing different refrigerants in one cylinder is prohibited.

Decommissioning a system requires recovery of the charge, isolation of the circuit, and recording of the refrigerant quantity recovered and its destination.

A licence holder must keep records of refrigerant purchased, recovered, and disposed of, and produce them on request by the regulator.

Licence renewal depends on continuing competency; lapsed or expired licences do not authorise handling work until reinstated.

An RTA authorises a business entity, not an individual, to buy, sell, store, or otherwise trade in regulated refrigerants.

The authorisation is tied to the business and its nominated site; refrigerant transactions must occur under that authorisation.

An RTA holder must verify that purchasers hold a valid refrigerant handling licence before supplying regulated refrigerant.

Records of each refrigerant sale or supply must identify the refrigerant type, quantity, date, and the purchaser's licence details.

The business must nominate at least one individual responsible for compliance, and that nominee must hold the relevant handling licence.

Storage of regulated refrigerant must comply with the authorisation conditions, including secure, labelled, and segregated storage.

An RTA does not permit the holder to perform handling work; handling requires a separate personal licence.

Changes to business details, nominated persons, or premises must be notified to the regulator within the period set by the authorisation conditions.

Selling regulated refrigerant to an unlicensed person is a breach of the authorisation and may result in suspension or cancellation.

Training must cover the refrigerant handling competencies required for the licence scope, including recovery, charging, leak testing, and record keeping.

Assessment must include both knowledge and practical components; a written test alone does not demonstrate handling competency.

Training providers must use equipment and procedures consistent with the current national refrigerant handling code of practice.

Refresher training is required to maintain currency; the interval is set by the licensing framework rather than by the training provider.

Records of training completion, including the assessor, date, and competency outcomes, must be retained and available for audit.

Training must address the environmental obligations for ozone-depleting substances and synthetic greenhouse gases, including venting prohibitions.

Competency must be reassessed if a licence holder has not performed handling work for an extended period or after a serious incident.

Training content must include safe handling of flammable refrigerants where the licence scope includes them, including ignition-source control.

Records must be legible, contemporaneous, and retained for the period specified by the regulator; typical retention is five years.

Each refrigerant transaction record must include the refrigerant type, quantity, date, and the identity of the parties involved.

Recovery and disposal records must link the recovered quantity to the equipment or site and to the receiving facility.

Records must be produced to an authorised officer on request; failure to produce records is itself a breach.

Electronic records are acceptable if they are secure, retrievable, and reproducible in a legible form.

Information about refrigerant quantities must reconcile: purchases plus recovered stock minus sales and disposals should match on-hand inventory.

Public information obligations include displaying the licence or authorisation number on invoices and quotations where required.

Data protection rules apply to personal information collected for licensing, but regulatory records must still be retained for the required period.