Lacors: we’re not the F-gas police

Lacors, the Local Authorities Coordinating Office on Regulatory Services, has told RAC it will not be policing the F-gas regulations.

A spokesperson for the body dismissed the commonly held belief that it is the agency appointed to enforce the regulations and said its role is to project manage.

“It’s simply not the case,” the spokesperson said. “Defra has overall ownership of the legislation and its implementation and Lacors, together with colleagues in Enviros, as F-Gas Support are working closely with Defra and the regulators to implement the regulations as well as providing information to F-gas end-users to help them comply. We have no regulatory powers.”

According to the spokesperson, the key part of the F-gas regulations 2009 is Paragraph 3, which sets out the “enforcing authorities” that have the powers to do the ‘policing’:

(3) In these Regulations, “the enforcing authority” means

(a) as regards England, the Agency, the local authority, the port health authority or the Secretary of State;

(b) as regards Wales, the Agency, the local authority, the port health authority or the Welsh Ministers;

(c) as regards Scotland, the Agency, the local authority or the Scottish Ministers;

(d) as regards offshore installations, the Secretary of State; and

(e) as regards Scottish offshore installations, the Scottish Ministers.