Key parliamentary committee rejects French HFC tax

Dealing a blow to the natural refrigerant community, the French parliament’s finance committee today pushed back an amendment to the 2019 Finance Bill that would have introduced an HFC tax and support mechanism for companies using natural refrigerant-based technology.

MPs from France’s governing LREM party and its coalition partner MoDem had submitted the amendment earlier this month.

“This makes no sense!” said French MP Matthieu Orphelin, from the LREM party, who is a prominent supporter of the tax.

The so-called bonus-malus scheme would gradually tax users of HFC-based HVAC&R equipment users from 2021, and offer corporate tax discounts to companies investing in natural refrigerant-based equipment.

The amendment aims to introduce a progressive tax levied as of 1 January 2021 on producers and importers of HFCs. The tax is set at 15 euros per ton of CO₂ equivalent (€/tCO2e) in 2021, €22/tCO₂e in 2022, €30t CO₂e in 2023 and €45/tCO₂e in 2024.

Orphelin pledged to raise the issue of the HFC tax and the support mechanism for HFC alternatives in a future meeting of the parliament.