According to CLG (Communities & Local Government), on 4 January 2003 the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union published Directive 2002/91/EC on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD). This requires Member States to bring into force ‘the necessary laws, regulations and administrative provisions to comply with the Directive’. Article 9 requires Member States to introduce measures to establish a regular inspection of air conditioning systems.

In England and Wales the Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 implement Articles 7-9 of the Directive. They require inspection of all air conditioning systems with rated outputs over 12kW at intervals not greater than 5 years.

To minimise the impact of the introduction of this requirement, the first such inspections will apply to systems with a capacity of over 250kW and must be completed by 4th January 2009. The remaining systems over 12kW must have the first inspections completed by 4th January 2011.

New systems brought into use after January 2008 will not require inspection until they have been in use for a maximum of 5 years.
These inspections may only be completed by an accredited Air Conditioning System Energy Assessor (ACSEA).

The EPBD Regulations define an ‘air conditioning system’ as: a combination of all the components required to provide a form of air treatment in which the temperature is controlled or can be lowered and includes systems which combine such air treatment with the control of ventilation, humidity and air cleanliness.

Please Click Here to read EPBD inspection document. .pdf - 149KB