Air-conditioning competence has been added to the Automotive Technician Accreditation (ATA) scheme ahead of new European legislation dealing with refrigerant gas handling.

The rules comes into force in July 2010. 

At present, five centres are approved by the IMI to run air-conditioning assessments.

They are Delphi Lockheed Automotive, Warwick; North Lindsey College, Scun-thorpe; ProAuto, Shrewsbury; S&B Training, Bristol; Training 2000, Blackburn.