BANGKOK, 19 October 2018 – Twenty-six Ozone and Customs Officers from nine countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia Networks attended a Twinning Workshop and back to back Parallel Border Dialogues, which was organised by UN Environment OzonAction from 17-19 October 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Seizures of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) continue around the world with cases of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) seizures also starting to re-appear, implying increasing evidence of a rise in illegal trade in ozone depleting substances (ODS). Although informal communications to establish the veracity of shipments between trading partners is being promoted through the informal Prior-informed Consent (iPIC) and this points to considerable quantities of prevented illegal in ODS, a number of countries have been experiencing mis-declaration or mislabelled refrigerants, which poses a risk for countries and presents difficulties to manage confiscated refrigerants by the relevant authorities. There are two main aspects that need to be considered in relation to illegal trade in ODS (Ozone Depleting Substances): monitoring of ODS trade in the domestic market and monitoring of ODS trade between countries. The workshop was organised with the objective to establish collaboration mechanisms within and between countries to tackle illegal trade in ODS.
The workshop was attended by nine countries from South Asia and Southeast Asia Networks: Afghanistan, Brunei Darussalam, China, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand and Timor Leste. Resource persons from UN Environment - National Environmental Law Unit of Law Division, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Regional Intelligence Liaison Offices (RILO) Asia and Pacific also participated in the workshop to share their experiences relevant to enforcement.
Over the three days, the workshop was organised with various approaches and themes. Day 1 was a plenary session and reviewed the overall challenges and good practices on ODS trade control, management of unwanted ODS, facilitating legal trade and combatting illegal trade of environmentally sensitive commodities and risk profiling techniques for combatting illegal trade. It also identified potential areas in collaboration, enforcing monitoring and sustaining capacity of relevant authorities that need could be strengthened for the current ODS control and future HFC (hydrofluorocarbon) control.
The second day focused on sharing enforcement mechanisms and cooperation activities: from issuance of import license until customs clearance and market inspection of each country. Each country shared their specific challenges and learnt good practices from others. Based on information exchange and discussions, role-play exercises were conducted which allowed countries to analyse a number of issues in detail and to exchange ideas and perspectives on different scenarios; data validation, smuggled ODS in the domestic market, harmonised code for HFCs and mis-declaration of the controlled substances.
The workshop was part of the 2018 work plan of UN Environment Compliance Assistance Programme (CAP) to support countries in implementing their Montreal Protocol commitments.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Shaofeng Hu
Montreal Protocol Regional Coordinator, Asia and the Pacific Office
E-mail: hus@un.org
Ezra Clark
Capacity Building Manager
E-mail: ezra.clark@un.org
