EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
well as guests from the United Nations
Industrial Development Organisation
(UNIDO) and multiple government
officials, predominantly from DEFF (who
were still struggling to get to terms with
the name of their new department –
much to everyone’s amusement).
DISPOSA BAN
While going through the previous
minutes, Baloyi noted that the
department will continue looking into
the issue of the banning of disposable
refrigerant canisters. “This discussion
is not dead – we will continue doing
research and discussing it in this forum,”
he said, noting that they will also be
looking at how other countries did this
and investigating the socio-economic
impact of banning disposas.
Upon closing
the meeting,
Baloyi moved
immediately into
the next meeting
about the HFC phase
down and Kigali
Amendment.
RECLAMATION
With regards to an update on the Mobile
Reclamation Machine Project, DEFF
reported that they have done some
site visits to where the machines have
been installed. There seems to be some
challenges with some of the components,
but UNIDO is attending to it.
They are now looking for a new
home for one of these donated reclaim
machines as Acom has withdrawn.
There is an opportunity to bid for the
fourth machine now.
The plan is to do a second round
of site visits and to set up a monitoring
programme and get permission to
operate.
If the pilot programme is a success,
the government will invest in more such
machines, they reported.
KIGALI RATIFICATION
DEFF also provided an update on
South Africa’s position in terms of
ratifying the Kigali Amendment to the
Montreal Protocol.
There has been great progress and it
is now at the final stage. The president
has signed it off and parliament has
approved it. It has been sent to the
United Nations (UN) and at the time
of the meeting we were still awaiting
confirmation that everything was in
order and the ratification was official.
COLD LINK AFRICA •
SEPTEMBER 2019
TRAINING OF INFORMAL SECTOR
Next on the agenda was the training
of informal refrigeration and air-
conditioning (RAC) technicians. DEFF
reported great progress on this matter.
They are currently working with various
industry and training organisations to set
up this programme, including UNIDO,
ACRA training academy, the Quality
Council for Trades and Occupations
(QCTO), and the South African
Refrigeration and Air Conditioning
Contractors Association (SARACCA).
The project steering committee,
along with UNIDO, did a site visit to
ACRA recently to investigate the
suitability for this project.
A data base has been compiled
for the first batch of potential trainees
as well. So far there are 400 names.
But there was a suggestion to hold
promotional and awareness workshops
around the country to expand this
data base. DEFF said that it is important
that industry gets involved and helps
put names forward for this initiative.
Currently the skills programme is being
finalised and hopefully the first batch of
students will be trained in the second
half of the year. The first trainings will be
held in Gauteng with a plan to expand
later. South African technicians will be
prioritised, it was reported.
TARIFF HEADINGS
It was confirmed that the South African
Revenue Service (SARS) has published
the new tariff codes for HFCs after it
was amended. This will now be used
for all imports and exports.
COMPLIANCE MONITORING
There was also an update from the
DEFF compliance monitoring division,
who reported that they have received
a number of complaints about the
improper usage of refrigerants. They
have received over 30 complaints
which they are currently investigating.
They have already started checking
and going around to these facilities to
verify the complaints. They started in
Gauteng and were also planning to
move on to the other provinces. They
confirmed that they will take action
against those found non-compliant.
Inspectors will have an identification
card when they show up on a premises
to verify their authority.
It was reported that they cannot
give feedback regarding the
outcomes of these inspections, but
that it will be communicated in future.
UPCOMING EVENTS
DEFF briefly spoke about upcoming
events and plans for it, including: World
Ozone Day and the Chemicals Phakisa
in July.
DEFF once again asked for industry
to invite them to relevant events so
they can participate in future. CLA
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