Air Conditioning Licensing: What ARCtick Actually Covers

Refrigerant work is licensed by law. Under the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Regulations, anyone who installs, services, commissions or decommissions refrigeration and air conditioning equipment must hold a Refrigerant Handling Licence, administered nationally by the Australian Refrigeration Council under the ARCtick scheme. [1]

The scheme has scale. More than 130,000 individuals and businesses hold a licence, and the ARC runs over 5,000 compliance audits a year. [1] A licence reflects assessed training, typically a Certificate III in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning plus specific competencies, not just a registration fee.

A licence is not all-or-nothing. Licence types differ by the work involved. A restricted split-system installation licence is not the same as a full trade licence, so "licensed" does not automatically mean licensed for a particular job. [1]

Businesses need their own permit. Separate from an individual's licence, a business that acquires, stores or disposes of refrigerant must hold a current Refrigerant Trading Authorisation. [1] A solo operator can be individually licensed while the business still needs this authorisation to hold stock legally.

The penalties are real. Handling refrigerant without a licence can attract fines of up to $1,800 for individuals, and illegally importing or exporting ozone-depleting or synthetic greenhouse gases carries penalties up to $90,000 for individuals and $450,000 for corporations. [1]

Warranties can hinge on it. Manufacturer warranties are frequently conditional on licensed installation. [2] An unlicensed install can void cover before the system has run a season, often discovered only when something fails and the manufacturer asks for the installer's licence number.

Newer refrigerants, newer accreditation. For low-GWP refrigerants such as hydrocarbons, CO2 and ammonia, the ARC also runs a voluntary Green Scheme Accreditation. [1] As manufacturers move to lower-impact refrigerants, it is a useful signal of an installer staying current.

The licence is publicly recorded. The Look For The Tick register confirms a licence by number and surname or business name, showing whether it is current and what work it covers. [3]

AC Wise's installer network is ARC-licensed and verified, so the licence check is already done for you. Request a no-obligation quote.