UNEP: Illegal ODS trade in AsPac ‘much larger’

The illegal trade in ozone-depleting substances (ODS), particularly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), is “much larger” than what has been realized in the Asia-Pacific region, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said.

Citing a study on the trans-boundary movement of ODS, which was released last April 21, the UNEP said more than half of the substances traded in the region appeared unaccounted for, thus posing a “huge challenge” for governments in the Asia-Pacific to comply with the Montreal treaty on the protection of the ozone layer.

The study, aimed at helping governments, customs officers, and national ozone offices understand the magnitude of illegal trade in CFCs and other ODS, revealed large discrepancies in official import and export figures between trading countries, according to UNEP.

“If you compare figures between countries trading in these goods in the region, you will find that there is a discrepancy between what is being legally exported into a particular country and the actual legal import figures of the country. The figures just do not match. A good 55 percent of these goods are unaccounted for,” said Ludgarde Coppens, policy and enforcement officer of the Compliance Assistance Program of UNEP’s Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE).

The UNEP noted that an analysis of exports and imports of CFCs between key importing countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Iran, and key exporting countries that include China, India and Singapore in 2004 showed that more than 4,000 tons of CFCs were unaccounted for in the importing countries.

This, UNEP pointed out, means that the countries do not have any record of these imports.

For instance, the UNEP said the study found that nearly 51 percent of legal exports from China, and 47 percent of legal exports from India into Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Iran were not found in the import statistics of the importing countries, hence no import licenses were given.

Rajendre Shende, chief of the OzonAction of UNEP-DTIE, said that in some cases, the discrepancies actually correspond to the use of those goods in the market.

“Clearly, the problem is bigger than anyone had thought before, and action had to be taken,” Shende said.

But through a number of initiatives, like the Customs-Ozone Enforcement Networking Project and the Project Sky-Hole-Patching, Shende said countries, environment, ozone and customs authorities could share and exchange information on the movement of these controlled substances, enabling them to take action and deal with the problem.

These initiatives could also lead to the implementation of a concerted control action on ODS by Customs administrations in the region, he added.

Based on the study, the main routes used to smuggle ODS are India/China-Vietnam-Laos/Cambodia-Thailand, Bangladesh-India, Nepal-India, China-Philippines, China-Malaysia, China-Indonesia, Singapore-Malaysia, and Malaysia-Thailand.

Moreover, the study said that among the reasons for the illegal trade are the high cost of substitutes, the long lifespan of equipment using CFCs, the high demand for CFCs in the servicing sector, and the “often paltry” penalties for smuggling of these illegal substances.

The study further stressed that the problem is worsened by imports of used refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment, especially mobile air-conditioners used in automobiles.

The continued, even if not increased, dependency on CFCs, facilitated by low CFC prices in the international black market, also encourages smuggling of the chemicals as controls reduce legal supplies, the study said.

In 2007, the UNEP said Indonesia reviewed its licensing system after it found that more than 1,000 tons of CFCs were unaccounted for.

Malaysia, meantime, found eight companies that had illegally imported more than 1,000 tons of CFCs into the country in 2004, and launched an investigation.

On the other hand, the UNEP said that based on focused control action and interception of suspicious shipments in the Philippines, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources estimated that about 15 to 20 percent of CFCs imported into the country in 2002, prior customs control, were illegal.