Compliance expert urges hoteliers to address air-con certificates

Hotel and restaurant owners urgently need to have air conditioning certification in place according to compliance specialists, Inteb. 

Any air conditioning with an output of over 12kW must, by law, be regularly inspected by a trained energy assessor, so that certification can be produced to show that the operator of the system is complying with European Directive Legislation.

The certificate, known as a TM44, is supplied to those who are compliant with the inspection but those who are found with a non-compliant air conditioning system can be fined £300 per system, per day.

To date, Trading Standard Officers have been shown to put little effort behind TM44 checks. It is thought that only around 5-10% of qualifying properties are compliant.

One accreditation body, Sterling, has flagged up the lack of activity by Trading Standards Officers to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), which responded by saying that action could be taken against local authorities and Trading Standards Officers who are proved to be neglecting to enforce the regulation.

Sterling has also instigated a Freedom of Information request and asked local authorities to report back on their actions to enforce the regulations to date, providing statistical evidence of inspections and enforcements.

The National Association of Air Conditioning Energy Assessors (NAACEA) is encouraging members and non-members to report non-compliant businesses and sites.

Amy Field, compliance manager at Inteb, said: “We recognise that many businesses have no idea that they are supposed to have TM44 certification for their air conditioning system, but ignorance is no defence.

“We would urge businesses [to request] an inspection, so that they can be compliant before any inspection by Trading Standards Officers. The alternative could be a very heavy fine, as TSOs respond to the threats placed upon them, by launching into a phase of active enforcement of the law.”