Compliance guide · Updated 31 August 2026
ARC Refrigerant Licences, and the Electrical Licence That Changes at Every Border
Every Australian technician who handles fluorocarbon refrigerant needs an ARC Refrigerant Handling Licence, and every business that buys, stores or sells refrigerant needs a Refrigerant Trading Authorisation. Both are federal, both are issued by the Australian Refrigeration Council, and neither changes when you cross a state line. The licence that does change is the electrical one you need to connect the unit, and that is where most one-state operators get caught when they take work interstate.
Start here
The refrigerant side is federal, and the same everywhere
The Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989 and the regulations under it are Commonwealth law. The Australian Refrigeration Council administers the licence scheme for the whole country, so a licence issued in Perth is the same instrument as one issued in Sydney. These are the pieces, and a working business usually needs more than one of them.
Refrigerant Handling Licence, held by the person
The individual technician's licence to handle fluorocarbon refrigerant. It is issued in classes, and the class decides the work: full handling covers install, service, decommission and recovery across systems, while restricted classes cover a narrower band such as split-system installation and decommissioning only. Working outside your class is working unlicensed.
Refrigerant Trading Authorisation, held by the business
Separate from the technician's licence and often the one a new business forgets. It authorises the entity to acquire, possess and dispose of refrigerant. A sole trader needs both: the personal handling licence and the business authorisation. Without the RTA a wholesaler cannot legally sell you gas.
The records, kept per job and per cylinder
Refrigerant type, quantity charged, quantity recovered, and the cylinder the gas came from, recorded against the job. This is the part regulators and insurers ask for, and the part most often reconstructed from memory after the fact.
Automotive air conditioning is its own class
Vehicle air conditioning sits under a separate automotive licence class rather than the stationary one. A workshop that services car air con and a plant room needs cover on both sides, and one licence does not imply the other.
State by state
The electrical licence, and who issues it
Connecting a fixed unit is electrical work, and electrical licensing is state law administered by a state regulator. The wiring standard is national, AS/NZS 3000, but the licence, the restricted-licence classes and the certificate of electrical safety paperwork are not. If you are quoting work in a state you have never worked in, this is the row to read first.
New South Wales
- Legislation
- Home Building Act 1989 and the Gas and Electricity (Consumer Safety) Act 2017
- Regulator
- NSW Fair Trading
NSW licenses electrical wiring work through Fair Trading. An air conditioning and refrigeration technician who connects fixed wiring needs the electrical licence in their own right, or has to sub-contract that part to someone who holds it. Restricted electrical licence categories exist for exactly this situation, where the trade is refrigeration and the electrical work is incidental to it.
- Electrical licence or a restricted electrical licence issued by NSW Fair Trading
- ARC handling licence unchanged, it is the same federal instrument here as anywhere
- Certificate of Compliance Electrical Work lodged for prescribed electrical work
- Home Building Act contract and insurance rules apply to residential work over the state threshold
Victoria
- Legislation
- Electricity Safety Act 1998
- Regulator
- Energy Safe Victoria
Energy Safe Victoria administers electrical licensing and the Certificate of Electrical Safety system. Victoria draws a firm line between a licensed electrician and a registered electrical contractor: the licence lets you do the work, the registration lets you contract for it and issue the certificate. A refrigeration business that invoices the customer directly usually needs both.
- Electrician's licence, plus contractor registration to contract for the work
- Certificate of Electrical Safety issued for prescribed work, with inspection where required
- Restricted classes cover refrigeration and air conditioning where the electrical work is incidental
- ARC handling licence and the business RTA are unaffected by the border
Queensland
- Legislation
- Electrical Safety Act 2002
Queensland separates the electrical work licence held by the worker from the electrical contractor licence held by the business, and requires a Certificate of Testing and Compliance for the work performed. Restricted electrical work licences exist for trades whose primary work is not electrical, which is the usual route for a refrigeration technician.
- Electrical work licence for the technician, electrical contractor licence for the business
- Certificate of Testing and Compliance issued for the work
- Restricted electrical work licence available where refrigeration is the primary trade
- QBCC licensing may also apply where the job forms part of building work
Western Australia
- Legislation
- Electricity (Licensing) Regulations 1991
Building and Energy licenses electrical workers and electrical contractors in Western Australia and runs the notice of completion process. WA also licenses restricted electrical work, and it is the state where interstate operators most often discover that their home-state licence does not carry across without a mutual recognition application.
- Electrical worker licence and a separate electrical contractor licence
- Notice of Completion lodged for electrical installing work
- Restricted electrical licence classes for refrigeration and air conditioning work
- Mutual recognition is an application, not an automatic transfer, so allow time before the job
South Australia
- Legislation
- Plumbers, Gas Fitters and Electricians Act 1995
- Regulator
- Consumer and Business Services
South Australia licenses electricians and electrical contractors through Consumer and Business Services, with the Office of the Technical Regulator overseeing electrical safety and the certificate of compliance system. The same one Act covers plumbing, gas fitting and electrical work, which matters for a refrigeration business that also runs condensate or gas work.
- Electrical worker registration plus a contractor licence to contract for the work
- Certificate of Compliance lodged through the Office of the Technical Regulator
- One Act covers electrical, plumbing and gas fitting, so check every trade you touch
- Restricted registration available where electrical work is incidental to another trade
Tasmania
- Legislation
- Occupational Licensing Act 2005
Tasmania licenses electrical practitioners under the Occupational Licensing Act, in practitioner, contractor and restricted categories. The certificate of electrical compliance is lodged for prescribed work. Refrigeration and air conditioning work with an electrical component follows the restricted route unless the technician holds a full electrical licence.
- Electrical practitioner licence, with a contractor category to contract for work
- Certificate of Electrical Compliance lodged for prescribed electrical work
- Restricted electrical licence classes cover refrigeration work
- ARC licence and RTA remain federal and unchanged
Australian Capital Territory
- Legislation
- Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act 2004
- Regulator
- Access Canberra
The ACT licenses electricians through Access Canberra under the construction occupations framework, which also covers builders, plumbers and gas fitters. Electrical work is certified and the licence classes distinguish the individual practitioner from the entity that contracts. Territory licences and NSW licences are separate instruments even though the work often crosses the border in a single day.
- Electrician licence issued under the construction occupations framework
- Separate licence for the entity that contracts for the work
- Certification required for electrical work, with an inspection regime
- An NSW licence does not automatically operate in the ACT, and the reverse is also true
Northern Territory
- Legislation
- Electrical Workers and Contractors Act 1978
The Northern Territory licenses electrical workers and electrical contractors through NT Worksafe, and requires a certificate of compliance for electrical installation work. Remote work is the practical complication rather than the licensing one: the standards are the same, but recovery, cylinder logistics and inspection intervals are all harder to keep clean at distance.
- Electrical worker licence and a separate electrical contractor licence
- Certificate of compliance for electrical installation work
- Restricted classes available where electrical work is incidental to refrigeration
- Plan cylinder recovery and disposal before a remote job, not after it
What to hold
What a compliant refrigerant job leaves behind
None of this is exotic. It is the set of records that turn a service call into something you can stand behind a year later, when the insurer, the regulator or the next technician asks what was done.
Gas type and quantity, both ways
Refrigerant charged and refrigerant recovered, recorded separately against the job. A single net figure hides the recovery, which is the number that matters.
Cylinder serial against the entry
Which cylinder the gas came from, and which cylinder the recovered gas went into. This is what links your site record to the wholesaler's and the disposal contractor's.
Licence numbers on the paperwork
Your ARC tradesperson licence number on the quote and the invoice, and the business RTA held against the entity. Print it rather than quote it from memory.
The electrical certificate for the state you worked in
The certificate name changes at every border. Whatever it is called where you are, it belongs on the job file with the photos, not in a separate folder.
Nameplate photo per unit
Model, serial and charge from the plate, taken on the day. It is the cheapest way to make the next visit shorter, and it settles arguments about what was installed.
Decommissioning and disposal evidence
Where a unit comes out, the recovery entry and the disposal path. An end-of-life unit with no recovery record is the single easiest breach for an inspector to find.
What goes wrong
Where operators get caught
These are the recurring ones. All of them are cheap to avoid on the day and expensive to reconstruct afterwards.
Assuming the ARC licence covers the wiring
It does not, and this is the most common misreading of the scheme. The ARC licence is about refrigerant. Connecting the unit to fixed wiring is electrical work licensed by a state regulator, and doing it without that licence is an offence in every state.
Trading without the business authorisation
A technician with a personal handling licence and no Refrigerant Trading Authorisation cannot lawfully buy or hold gas as a business. Sole traders in their first year are the ones this catches.
Working outside the licence class
A restricted class that covers split-system installation does not cover a commercial plant room. The class is on the licence, and the scope on the card is the scope you have.
Taking a job interstate on a home-state electrical licence
Mutual recognition exists, but it is an application with a processing time. Booking the job first and applying second is how a week gets lost.
A logbook that lives in the van
Paper logs go missing with the van. The record has to survive the vehicle, and it has to be searchable by cylinder when someone asks about one specific cylinder.
Recovered gas with nowhere to go
Recovery is only half the obligation. Recovered refrigerant has to reach a licensed destruction or reclaim path, and the manifest is the proof that it did.
Questions
Common questions
Does the ARC refrigerant licence change from state to state?
No. The Refrigerant Handling Licence is issued under Commonwealth law, the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989 and the regulations under it, and administered nationally by the Australian Refrigeration Council. The same licence is valid in every state and territory. What changes at the border is the electrical licence you need alongside it to connect a fixed unit, because electrical licensing is state law with a different regulator, a different certificate and different restricted classes in each jurisdiction.
What is the difference between a handling licence and a trading authorisation?
The Refrigerant Handling Licence belongs to a person and permits that technician to handle fluorocarbon refrigerant within the class printed on it. The Refrigerant Trading Authorisation belongs to a business entity and permits that entity to acquire, possess and dispose of refrigerant. A sole trader needs both, one in their own name and one in the business name, and a wholesaler will ask for the authorisation before selling gas.
Can I install a split system with only an ARC licence?
Only up to the point where fixed wiring is involved. The refrigerant work is covered by the ARC licence, but connecting the unit to the electrical installation is electrical work, and that needs a licence from the electrical regulator in the state you are working in, either a full electrician's licence or a restricted class that covers refrigeration work. Many technicians hold a restricted electrical licence for exactly this reason, and the rest sub-contract that step.
What records does the refrigerant scheme actually expect me to keep?
Enough to reconstruct what happened to the gas. In practice that means, per job, the refrigerant type, the quantity charged, the quantity recovered, and the cylinder each movement relates to, plus the disposal path for recovered gas that leaves your possession. Keep it against the job rather than in a separate book, because the question you will be asked is usually about a site or a cylinder, not about a date.
Do I need a separate licence for car air conditioning work?
Yes. Automotive air conditioning sits in its own licence class, distinct from the stationary classes that cover split systems, ducted systems and commercial refrigeration. A workshop that services vehicle air conditioning and also does plant room work needs the right class on both sides. Holding one does not imply the other, and the class printed on the card is the scope you actually have.
What happens if a technician handles refrigerant without a current licence?
It is an offence under the Commonwealth scheme, with penalties that apply to the individual and, where the business bought or held the gas without an authorisation, to the entity as well. The practical exposure is usually broader than the penalty: insurers routinely decline claims arising from unlicensed work, and a wholesaler that has sold gas against a lapsed authorisation will stop supplying. Diarise the expiry rather than waiting for the reminder.
Sources
Where each row came from
Every claim above traces to one of these. They are the pages to re-read on the next annual sweep, and the pages to check first if your own situation is unusual.
- Australian Refrigeration Council, licence and authorisation classes
- Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989, Federal Register of Legislation
- Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, ozone and synthetic greenhouse gases
- NSW Fair Trading, electrical licences
- Energy Safe Victoria, electrical licensing and certificates
- Electrical Safety Office Queensland, electrical licensing
- Building and Energy WA, electrical licensing
- Consumer and Business Services SA, electrical licensing
- Consumer, Building and Occupational Services Tasmania
- Access Canberra, construction occupations licensing
- NT Worksafe, electrical safety regulator
Keep reading
Related guides
HVAC job management software
Quote split and ducted installs, schedule service contracts, and log refrigerant against the job rather than a paper book in the van.
Trade licence requirements by state
The wider trade licensing picture, for the jobs where the air conditioning work sits inside a bigger build.
Tradie insurance guide
Public liability, workers compensation and tool cover, and what an insurer looks for after an incident on a refrigerant job.
Building and Construction Award rates
MA000020 classifications and penalties, for the apprentice and the second technician on the books.
About the author
Bishal Shrestha
Founder & CEO, OneBookPlus
Bishal spent a decade running digital projects for Australian small businesses before founding OneBookPlus. He writes and maintains these pages, and publishes what OneBookPlus does not do alongside what it does.
Read the founder bioHow this page was researched
The state-by-state figures on this page come from each state and territory regulator directly, linked in the row they belong to, because the rule differs by jurisdiction and a national summary would be wrong in six places. Everything said about OneBookPlus describes what the product does today.
Keep the licence numbers and the gas log on the job, not in a folder
Your ARC tradesperson licence number prints on every quote and invoice, refrigerant charged and recovered is logged per job with the cylinder serial, and the certificate for whichever state you worked in sits on the same job file as the photos. Free to start, no card.
Last reviewed and updated: by Bishal Shrestha