Refrigeration installation maintenance contract: free template (2026)

A good maintenance contract is more than a sales argument. For refrigeration installers it's also a compliance instrument: it records who is responsible for the legally required leak checks, how the administration is kept, and what happens if an installation falls short. If that contract is missing — or contains too little — you can end up with a legal problem of your own making at an ILT inspection or a dispute with a customer.

This article explains what's legally required to be in a maintenance contract for a refrigeration installation, which points require specific attention for F-gas installations, and gives you a template structure you can adapt directly for your own business.

Why a maintenance contract for refrigeration installations is not optional

Most installers think of "maintenance contract" as recurring revenue. That's true — but the contract also has a legal-administrative function that is often underestimated.

Under the EU F-gas Regulation (EU 2024/573, successor to EU 517/2014), the owner of a refrigeration installation is responsible for having periodic leak checks carried out. From 5 tonnes CO₂ equivalent a check is required every 12 months; from 50 tonnes every 6 months. The owner is liable if those checks have not been carried out — but in practice, the owner of a supermarket or a refrigerated transport company does not know for themselves when that threshold has been reached.

You do know that. And with that comes the duty of care to set up the contract so that the owner knows what they're signing up for, and so that you carry out and document the checks on time.

Without a written contract, there is no evidence in a dispute of what was agreed. That's a problem if the customer says a particular leak check was never discussed, or if questions come in from the Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport (ILT) after a refrigerant leak.

What's legally required to be in it?

There is no legal requirement that you draw up a maintenance contract in a particular format. There are, however, rules about what must be demonstrably arranged *at minimum*:

### 1. Leak-check frequency and CO₂ equivalent

The contract must explicitly state which leak-check frequency applies to the installations it covers. That requires the CO₂-equivalent load per installation to be known and documented.

The applicable thresholds from EU 2024/573:

• ≥ 5 tonnes CO₂-eq: every 12 months (24 months with a leak detection system)
• ≥ 50 tonnes CO₂-eq: every 6 months (12 months with a leak detection system)
• ≥ 500 tonnes CO₂-eq: every 3 months — but at this size a leak detection system is mandatory (Article 6(1)), which in practice makes it every 6 months

Pay attention to that last point when drawing up your contract: if you write "quarterly" while a mandatory detection system is in place, you have your customer checked twice as often as the law requires — and someone pays for that. The reverse is worse: "every six months" without a detection system in place is a violation.

In practice: to calculate the CO₂ equivalent, you need the refrigerant type and the charge in kilograms. An installation with 3 kg of R-410A (GWP 2,088) has a CO₂-eq load of 3 × 2,088 = 6,264 kg, i.e. 6.3 tonnes CO₂-eq — above the 5-tonne threshold, so a leak check is mandatory. In Koldwerk this calculation is carried out automatically based on the GWP values from Annex I of EU 2024/573.

Refer in your contract to an appendix with the installation list, including refrigerant type, charge and calculated CO₂-eq per unit. That way it's always demonstrable on what basis the leak-check frequency was determined.

### 2. Recording leak-check results

A leak check without a written report has little legal value. The contract must record that:

• After each leak check a work order or report is drawn up with date, installation ID, result (no leak found / leak found, location and quantity) and the name + signature of the executing technician
• The customer receives a copy
• A copy is kept for 5 years in the installation file (minimum requirement BRL 100)

This is also the place to state whether reporting takes place digitally (for example via the work order module of your management system) or on paper.

### 3. F-gas logbook and refrigerant administration

If you top up or recover refrigerant during maintenance, you are required to record that. Article 7 of EU 2024/573 ("Record keeping") requires that operators of equipment that must be checked for leaks under Article 5 keep a register per unit of equipment. Note the number: under the repealed 517/2014 this was Article 6, and that old number is still widely circulating — Article 6 of 2024/573 covers leakage detection systems.

The maintenance contract must make clear who keeps that logbook up to date: you as the installer, the customer, or a combination. In most cases you keep it up to date as part of the maintenance — and that should then also be stated in the contract.

State at minimum:

• Which system is used for logbook management
• That you record the refrigerant change at every visit with cylinder ID, quantity, reason and work order reference
• That the customer gets access to the logbook on request

### 4. Technician certification

The law (EU 2024/573, nationally via the Besluit activiteiten leefomgeving with the Omgevingsregeling — since 1 January 2024 the successor to the Activiteitenregeling milieubeheer) requires that work on F-gas installations is carried out by certified technicians. Specifically: a valid BRL 200 certification (or the equivalent at EU level).

Record in the contract that you, as the Contractor, guarantee that work is carried out by technicians with a valid certification for the applicable category. That also protects you: if a technician nevertheless works with an expired certificate, responsibility is clearly assigned.

### 5. Repair obligation in the event of leakage

If leakage is found during a leak check in which refrigerant has escaped, a statutory repair obligation applies. EU 2024/573 requires that an installation with an established leak is repaired as soon as possible — and that a re-check takes place to confirm the repair.

The contract must indicate:

• Within what period repair work is carried out (market convention: 14 working days for non-critical leaks, as soon as possible for critical ones)
• That the re-check is always documented
• How cost responsibility is arranged (repair work usually falls outside the fixed subscription, unless otherwise agreed)

The template structure: what do you put in it?

Below is the basic structure for a refrigeration installation maintenance contract. This is a structural template — always have the final version checked by a lawyer or in-house counsel familiar with the sector.

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REFRIGERATION INSTALLATION MAINTENANCE CONTRACT

Parties

• Contractor: [Name of installation company], KvK [number], registered at [address]
• Client: [Name of customer], KvK/BSN [number], registered at [address]

Article 1 — Description of work The Contractor undertakes to carry out preventive and corrective maintenance on the installations listed in Annex 1. The work includes at minimum: [list of tasks per visit, per year].

Article 2 — Leak checks and F-gas obligation The Contractor carries out leak checks in accordance with EU 2024/573 based on the CO₂-equivalent load per installation (see Annex 1). The frequency stated in Annex 1 applies per installation. The Client receives a written report after each leak check.

Article 3 — Refrigerant administration and logbook The Contractor records all refrigerant changes in the installation logbook in accordance with Article 7 EU 2024/573. Changes are recorded on the day they are carried out. The Client may inspect the logbook on request.

Article 4 — Certification of executing personnel The Contractor guarantees that work on F-gas installations is carried out exclusively by technicians with a valid personal certification in accordance with BRL 200, issued under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2215 (or, for certificates issued before the transition period, the preceding scheme under EU 2015/2067), matching the applicable category.

Article 5 — Repair in the event of leakage In the event of established leakage, the Contractor notifies the Client immediately. Repair work is started within [X] working days of detection, unless otherwise agreed in writing. Repair costs are quoted separately.

Article 6 — Documentation and retention period All work orders, leak-check reports and refrigerant changes are kept for at least 5 years in the installation file. The Client receives an annual overview.

Article 7 — Term and termination This contract has a term of [1 year / other period] and is automatically renewed unless terminated with a notice period of [at least 1 month before the end of the contract period].

Article 8 — Liability [Standard limitation of liability — have this adapted by a lawyer based on your company's insurance policy.]

Annex 1 — Installation overview | Installation ID | Location | Make/type | Refrigerant | Charge (kg) | CO₂-eq (tonnes) | Leak-check freq. | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | [ID] | [Location] | [Make] | [R-32] | [kg] | [tonnes] | [Annual/Semi-annual] |

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Practical tips for filling it in

Calculate CO₂-eq per installation before you sign. A contract with "annual leak check" that should actually have been semi-annual (because the installation is above the 50-tonne threshold), is, legally speaking, a shortcoming. Use the logbook-obligation check or the installation module to determine which frequency applies per installation.

Set up Annex 1 as a living document. If your customer installs an extension, it must be added to the appendix — and the leak-check frequency must be reassessed. Record in the contract how changes to the installation scope are processed.

Link the contract to your work order software. A contract that says "we record all changes on the day they are carried out" but where practice is a weekly close-off in Excel creates a gap. Use digital work orders that link directly to the installation file — then the contract is automatically covered.

Add a contact-person clause. At an ILT inspection or audit you want to know who the contact person for installation matters is at the customer's end. Record that — together with the requirement that the customer reports relevant changes (extension, relocation, removal of installations) to you within 5 working days.

Have the customer receive a copy of the installation file. You keep the file for 5 years; the customer benefits from an annual print or PDF export. That's also a service moment.

What the contract doesn't need to cover

A common mistake is that installers put too much into the contract — until it becomes an unreadable legal document that customers don't understand and therefore don't really accept either.

You don't need to describe every technical detail of the leak-check procedure in the contract. Refer to the applicable standards (NEN-EN 378, EU 2024/573, BRL 100) and only state the frequency and the installations in the appendix. The technical execution is your area of expertise — not a subject for negotiation with the customer.

Likewise: the GWP values of refrigerants don't need to be in the contract. They are fixed in Annex I of EU 2024/573 (carried over unchanged from the repealed EU 517/2014). You can refer to the regulation, or show your calculation in the appendix without writing out the underlying table again.

Connection to BRL 100

If you are BRL 100-certified or working towards it, the maintenance contract has a direct function in your quality system. At an initial certification audit or annual check, the auditor asks for the substantiation of how leak checks are planned and documented. A signed contract with an up-to-date Annex 1 is that evidence.

BRL 100 requires a file to exist per customer and per installation — the maintenance contract is the "hook" on which the work orders, leak-check reports and refrigerant changes are hung. Without that contract, those documents are still present, but the auditor is missing the formal basis. You can read more about what the auditor specifically checks during that annual check in the BRL 100 annual check.

Further reading

• What is BRL 100? — the broader process certification of which the maintenance contract is part
• BRL 100 annual check — what the auditor checks and how your contract helps with that
• Am I subject to the logbook obligation? — check which installations fall under the F-gas registration obligation
• F-gas leak checks: how often are they mandatory? — the thresholds and frequencies worked out per refrigerant
• Digital work orders and installation management — how you automatically cover the contract obligations in your daily work process

Disclaimer: this article and the template structure are intended as a practical guide based on EU 2024/573 and BRL 100. They do not constitute legal advice. Always have the final contract checked by a lawyer or your trade association (Techniek Nederland or NVKL).