DENR, DOTC team up to make Phl CFC-free

MANILA, Philippines –  In an effort to make the Philippines CFC free, the National CFC Phase-out Plan Project Management Unit (NCPP PMU) under the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is intensifying the implementation of the National Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) Phase-out Plan (NCPP) project, working in partnership with other concerned government agencies.  

As one of the 195 state signatories to the Montreal Protocol, the Philippines has banned importation of CFC since Jan. 1, 2010. The country commits to totally phase out the consumption of CFCs in the servicing sector by 2012, while total ban on the use of CFC in the manufacturing sector has been implemented since January 1999.

Through Joint Administrative Order (JAO) issued in January 2007, the DENR and the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) have regulated the use of CFC in the air conditioning systems of motor vehicles. JAO 3, which enforces the regulation on motor vehicles under the Revised Chemical Control Order (CCO) for ODS, is consistent with the NCPP.

JAO 3, provides that the DOTC’s Land Transportation Office (LTO) is to conduct mandatory inspection to determine the volume of vehicles with air conditioning systems.  The mandatory inspection of air conditioning systems prior to registration has been implemented since January 2007, while the random roadside inspection, similar to the roadside emission testing of vehicles, has been implemented since June 2006 by the joint EMB-LTO inspection team. 

Vehicle models from 1999 up to the present have non-CFC air conditioning systems. Any vehicle from among the said models found to have been converted back to a CFC-12 (R-12 or freon) system shall not be allowed to register or renew registration with the LTO, unless the air conditioning is changed back to a non-CFC system.

Vehicles with HFC-134A air conditioning systems are not allowed to convert back to CFC-12 (or freon). The restriction discourages the practice of back-conversion, which means charging a non-CFC system with CFC or R-12 to save on the cost of refrigerants.

It is also a way to encourage vehicle owners to use environment-friendly refrigerants in their vehicles, such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFC-134A or R-134A).

Older car models (1998 and earlier) with CFC-using air conditioning systems will still be allowed to be registered before 2012.