A small number of repairmen have a license, and there are no free appointments for appointments, so many are now managing the issue of purchasing freon or giving up air conditioning servicing, a car repairman told "Vreme". The Association of Car Service Centers of Serbia appeals to the authorities to enable work in accordance with the law
Servicemen climate on motor vehicles these days, they are massively removing air conditioning stations from their car service centers and stop providing air conditioning service. The reasons why they decide to take such a radical step at the beginning of the season, when driving without air conditioning in vehicles becomes unimaginable, are numerous, according to the Association of Auto Service Centers of Serbia (UAS).
"We have a problem, the state does not allow us to buy freon, due to damage to the ozone layer and environmental protection," a car repairman from Belgrade told Vreme.
According to him, a small number of repairmen have a license, and there are no free appointments, so many are now managing the issue of freon procurement or abandoning air conditioner servicing.
"It used to be the same for oil disposal, so it is no longer mentioned, the inspection does not come," says a car repairer who wished to remain anonymous.
Only two training schools
As explained by the UAS, in 2016, in Serbia, several regulations were passed that relate to the protection of the air and the ozone layer, among others the Regulation on the certification of persons engaged in certain activities related to substances that damage the ozone layer and certain fluorinated gases with greenhouse effect.
"For us repairmen of air conditioning systems for motor vehicles, these Regulations, in short, provide that we must have employees who have undergone training for handling controlled gases and possess Certificate B issued by the Ministry after attending the training, as well as that our car repair shops are registered in the Ministry's Registry environmental protection. For sellers of controlled gases, the Regulations provide that they can only sell them to legal entities and entrepreneurs who are registered in the Registry of the Ministry and who have the necessary licenses (Certificate B)," the UAS press release states.
However, as they say, neither the association, nor the repairmen, nor the sellers, nobody informed about it.
"In 2022, the association of service technicians received information from technical schools that, within the framework of the UNIDO project, several technical schools can undergo training for obtaining Certificate B for free, and that this is a legal obligation for us. We were offered 150 places, and we passed this information on to the membership. A hundred colleagues then underwent training at four locations in schools in Novi Sad, Belgrade, Kragujevac and Niš, which received the necessary technical equipment for conducting the training from donations," states the UAS.
When the project ended, nobody mentioned Certificate B anymore.
"During 2023, we contacted all these schools in order to provide training to our members. Except in the Technical School in New Belgrade, in all other schools we were told that the trainings are no longer held. We were referred to a private company in Kać, which at that moment was the only one that had permission to conduct trainings, and it is still the same now", it is stated.
"General Commotion"
"During 2023, colleagues from different parts of Serbia began to inform us about extremely strict inspection controls, often accompanied by the police with search warrants, regarding Certificate B and hazardous waste. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, the Association turned to the Ministry of Environmental Protection in the desire to point out the situation on the ground and to meet, discuss all this and jointly find solutions to enable the implementation of the law," said the Association of Autoservices of Serbia.
As they say, calls and letters went unanswered. These days, controls have been strengthened, and for the first time sellers of controlled gases received a notification from the Ministry that they may not sell them to natural persons, but only to those who are registered in the Ministry's Registry and have the necessary licenses.
"At the same time, a large number of colleagues informed us that they did not manage to get Certificate B, nor to be registered in the Registry of the Ministry within the legally stipulated period. A number of colleagues reported that they received Certificate B, but that they are not in the register on the Ministry's website. In the general commotion that arose, many repairmen decided to simply stop servicing air conditioners, before the beginning of the season when they will be necessary for all of us in vehicles, until the conditions are met to deal with it," the Association announced.
On that occasion, UAS representatives were recently admitted to a meeting at the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
Out of 15.000 repairmen, only 80 are licensed
"We pointed out the problem of not knowing the legal regulations and the lack of mechanisms for informing everyone in the chain about legal obligations." We also pointed out the lack of up-to-date lists on the Ministry's website and the slow issuance of the Certificates for those who have undergone training. An even bigger problem is that in Serbia it is possible to undergo training at only two locations. According to our estimates, about 15000 people who deal with servicing air conditioners should undergo training, at the moment there are less than 80 vehicle service technicians and not a single auto repair shop registered on the website of the Ministry", says Aleksandra Đurišić, manager of UAS.
According to her, the next training dates are only in mid-May, and according to the previous experience with the issuance of Certificate B by the Ministry, they will not be able to work in accordance with the law until the end of the summer season, and probably much longer.
"Currently, many repairmen are suspending air conditioning service in fear of inspections and the police, but also due to the inability to buy controlled gases. This is already affecting, and will continue to affect drivers and driving conditions in the summer months. The only immediate benefit from all of this is the services that work underground and those who sell controlled substances illegally. No one controls either of them, and both of them see an opportunity in this general confusion. Unfortunately, the lack of control over illegal services also motivates legal ones to deregister their workshops", concluded Aleksandra Đurišić.
Proposals of the Association of Serbian Auto Service Centers
Opening new training centers without delay. On their initiative, back in January, two applications were submitted to the Ministry to open training centers in Nis and Belgrade, but so far none of them have received answers. Also, it is necessary to enable trainings in schools that have conducted them so far.
Suspend inspection controls and sanctioning, until everyone is trained and registered in the register. Until then, the Association proposes the preventive action of inspections in order to work together to inform repairmen about their obligations
Until conditions are met for everyone to work in accordance with the law, the proposal is to sell controlled gases exclusively to legal entities and entrepreneurs who are in the process of registration and compliance with regulations.
The Association of Autoservices of Serbia is asking for urgent joint meetings with all sectors of the Ministry of Environmental Protection in order to talk about this and numerous problems with the management of hazardous waste that will become relevant again in the fall.
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