HVAC manufacturers group the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute said it is glad the ongoing legal battle over regional HVAC market standards is over.

A U.S. appeals court last week announced it had accepted a proposed settlement sent to the court March 11. Under its terms, regional HVAC sales standards for air conditioners and heat pumps will go into effect Jan. 1, 2015. However, HVAC manufacturers, distributors and contractors will be given 18 months to sell existing stocks. The regional HVAC market standards for indoor furnaces, which have been on hold since 2012, will be dropped and the U.S. Department of Energy will propose new regulations.

 “The court’s action today creates the certainty that manufacturers, distributors, contractors, and technicians have long sought with respect to regional standards and their effective dates,” said AHRI President and CEO Stephen Yurek. “We can now move forward not only with implementing the new regional AC standards and national heat pump standard, but we can also put our full energy into developing a workable enforcement scheme for regional standards.”