THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 842/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on certain fluorinated greenhouse gases, and in particular Article 3(7) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
In fire protection systems comprising several interconnected containers installed in response to a specific fire risk in a defined space, the charge of fluorinated greenhouse gases should be calculated on the basis of the total charge of those containers in order to ensure that the frequency of the checks corresponds to the effective charge of fluorinated greenhouse gases.
(2)
Pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 842/2006, records for fire protection systems shall contain certain information. In order to ensure the effective implementation of Regulation (EC) No 842/2006, it is appropriate to provide for further information to be entered into the system records.
(3)
Information on the fluorinated greenhouse gas charge should be included in the system records. Where the fluorinated greenhouse gas charge is unknown, the operator of the fire protection system concerned should ensure that certified personnel determine that charge in order to facilitate the leakage checking.
(4)
Before the leakage check is carried out, certified personnel should carefully go through the information contained in the system records to determine any previous issues and consult previous reports.
(5)
In order to ensure an efficient leakage control, the leakage checks should focus on those parts of the fire protection system which are most likely to leak.
(6)
Where there is a presumption of a leakage, it should be followed up by a check to identify and repair it.
(7)
Defective installation of new systems constitutes a significant risk of leakage. Therefore, newly installed systems should be checked for leakage immediately after they have been put into service.
(8)
In order to ensure the effectiveness of the repair to the system, the follow up check provided for in Regulation (EC) No 842/2006 should focus on the parts of the system where leakage has been detected and on the adjacent parts.
(9)
The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 18(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2037/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: