How to check an air conditioning technician licence in New South Wales

Who issues it, and where to search

Two registers, two checks. The refrigerant handling licence is national and is looked up with the Australian Refrigeration Council; the electrical side of the same installation is a NSW licence and is looked up on Verify.Licence.

How to check it, in order

1. 1Ask for the licence number and the exact name it is held under. It is often a company rather than the person standing in front of you, and the register searches on the name it was issued to.
2. 2Search Verify.Licence yourself. A photograph of a card proves that a licence once existed, not that it is current.
3. 3Check the class or category covers this work. A licence that is valid for one kind of work is not a licence for another, and that is the gap that most often matters.
4. 4Check the expiry date and any conditions or disciplinary history recorded against it.
5. 5Confirm the ABN on the quote matches the entity named on the licence, using ABN Lookup. A mismatch between who is licensed and who you are contracting with is worth asking about before you pay a deposit.

What the licence covers

Anyone who handles refrigerant needs a refrigerant handling licence. That covers installing, servicing, decommissioning or regassing an air conditioner or a refrigeration system. The licence is issued under the national scheme administered by the Australian Refrigeration Council, and the business needs a refrigerant trading authorisation to buy and hold refrigerant.

What you can legally do yourself

Filters, clearing the outdoor unit and the remote. Nothing involving the refrigerant circuit: it is an offence to handle refrigerant without the national licence, and venting it to atmosphere is an offence in its own right.