Illegal trade in CFCs on the increase

If you drive a car manufactured before 1996, be careful. You might be unintentionally involved in illegal trading of ozone- depleting substances.  

The United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) recently released a study on trans-boundary movement of ozone depleting chemicals, which found that illegal trade in chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), an ozone-depleting chemical, in the Asia-Pacific region is much larger than anyone realised. Thailand was named as one of the key importers of illegal CFCs.

The director of the Industrial Works Department's (IWD) Treaty and International Strategy Bureau, Soodsakorn Putho, said smuggling of CFCs was more intensive these days. The bureau acts as Thailand's National Ozone Depletion Unit under the Montreal Protocol.

Soodsakorn said CFCs are still needed as refrigerants for the air-conditioning systems in old cars.

CFCs were the original chemicals used in refrigerators, cooling systems and bottled foam spray, among other things.

There were found to eat into the ozone layer and became regulated by the Montreal Protocol for the Protection of the Ozone layer, the international agreement established in 1987 to phase out the consumption of ozone-depleting substances. More than 180 countries have ratified the Protocol, including Thailand, which joined in 1989. Under the Montreal Protocol, the consumption of CFCs of all member countries will come to an end in 2010.

Since being a member of the protocol, Thailand has tried its best to reduce the consumption of CFCs and other ozone-depleting chemicals.

The country has received financial support from several international funds, including the Multilateral Fund and Global Environment Facility for replacing old technology with new ones that use non-CFCs.

IWD's statistics showed that Thailand successfully reduced the import volume of CFCs from 2,291 tonnes in 2004 to 1,364 tonnes in 2005 and 912 tonnes last year. This year, the quota is only 704 tonnes and next year only 496 tonnes can be legally imported.  

But figures from the Customs Department show that the volume of CFCs smuggled into the country is increasing. In 2004, thedepartment seized 6,977 kilograms of smuggled CFCs. The volume leaped to 88,291kg in 2005. From 2003 to 2005, Customs reported 46 hauls of CFCs. Of this total, 27 were smuggled from Laos, accounting for 58.9 per cent, and 17.4 per cent came from Malaysia. 

"We can't eradicate smuggling as there is still some demand for the substance," Soodsakorn said, referring to automobiles that were manufactured before 1996.

Statistics from the Land Transportation Department showed that as of September 30, 2007, there were more than 3.6 million cars older than 11 years registered with the department. Most of them, 3.3 million, were personal cars and pickup trucks. However, not all old cars are refrigerated by CFCs. Soodsakorn said many owners have changed their air-conditioning systems to non-ozone technologies.

However, as the cost of CFC substitutes are still high, many owners are reluctant to shift to the new technology that is more Earth-friendly. 

The UNEP's study, which aimed at helping governments, customs officers and national ozone offices understand the magnitude of illegal trade in CFCs and other ozone depleting substances, found that the CFCs smuggled into the Asia-Pacific region originate in China and India.

By analysing exports and imports of CFCs in 2004 between key importing countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Iran and key exporting countries that include China, India and Singapore, the study found more than 4,000 tonnes of CFCs unaccounted for in the importing countries, meaning they do not have any record of these imports.

"In some cases, these discrepancies actually correspond to the use of these goods in the market. Clearly, the problem is bigger than anyone thought before, and action had to be taken," UNEP's OzonAction branch  chief Rajendre Shende said.