Vital Ozone Graphics 3

12 side effects The initial freeze date for HCFCs is upon us, and the deadlines for other substances that harm the ozone layer are approaching – but smuggling operations threaten the continued recovery of the Earth’s atmosphere. Whenworldwide trade restrictions or bans are placed on any commodity – drugs, guns, endangered species or whatever – a black market soon emerges. ODS are no exception. illegal trade in ozone depleting substances 34

the illegal trade problem. HCFCs, and particularly the most widely used HCFC – HCFC 22 – are generally much cheap- er than alternatives. This provides an incentive to obviate import restrictions. In addition, mislabeling of containers as legal HFCs when in fact they contain other, perhaps toxic substances, is becoming all too common, and has led to inju- ries and deaths. This points to the increased need for buyers to purchase from reputable importers and to consider testing the substance before putting it into commerce.

In the mid-1990s, when CFCs were phased-out in industrial- ized countries (non-Article 5 countries), illegal trade in those chemicals emerged. By 1996 this trade had reached alarming proportions, accounting for as much as 12–20% of global trade in ODS. It was once quoted in the US as being sec- ond in value only to cocaine. A 2006 estimate indicated that CFCs alone accounted for 7,000 to 14,000 tonnes of this trade, valued at US$ 25 to US$ 60 million. As the phase-out has moved past CFCs, HCFCs have become the focus of

EXAMPLES OF ODS SMUGGLING PATTERNS IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC EXAMPLES OF ODS MUG LING PAT ERNS IN A I IFIC

Scale at the Equator 0

1 000 km

Sea of Okhotsk

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

MONGOLIA

KAZAKHSTAN

NORTH KOREA

Qinhuangdao

Dalian

SOUTH

JAPAN

KIRG.

Tianjin

KOREA

Qingdao

TAJIK.

Pusan

CHINA

Shanghai

AFGH.

Ningbo

PAKISTAN

NEPAL

BHUTAN

TAIWAN

Guangzhou

Pacific Ocean

Kaohsiung

BANGLADESH

Hong Kong

VIETNAM

LAOS

INDIA

MYANMAR

PHILIPPINES

Indian Ocean

THAILAND

CAMBODIA

PHILIPPINES

SRI LANKA

MALAYSIA

SINGAPORE

Major ODS producers in the region (and in the World) Major destination country for illegal ODS Major transit country of ODS illegal trade

I N D O N E S I A

Identified smuggling routes Major merchandise ports

Source: UNEP ROAP, Illegal trade in ODS in Asia and the Pacific , September 2006.