Paraguay. National Ozone Officers and Customs Officers from 16 Latin American countries held a three-day training workshop on illegal trade in environmentally regulated goods in Asunción last August.
The first two days of the workshop focused on practical cooperation to support the implementation of national obligations under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. These were organized by the OzonAction Branch of the United Nations Environment Programme and the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of Paraguay, with the support of the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol.
Since the same customs officials responsible for monitoring international trade in substances controlled by the Montreal Protocol are also often in charge of trade controls under other multilateral environmental agreements, the Green Customs Initiative organized and supported the last day of the training workshop, a unique partnership of international organizations and secretariats of trade-related multilateral environmental agreements with the aim of enhancing the capacities of customs authorities.
One of the highlights of the workshop is that government officials and organizations from six Latin American countries received the Montreal Global Protocol Award for Customs and Enforcement Officers as part of a recognition program that was launched in January 2018 jointly by OzonAction, the Ozone Secretariat and the World Customs Organization.
The following were the recipients of the awards:
Argentina
The Ozone Program Office of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and the Customs Service of the Ministry of Finance of Argentina, due to the seizure in 2009 of 1,150 cylinders of HCFC-22 mislabeled as HFC-134a. The case was prosecuted and heavily fined, and the next step is the final disposal of the seized refrigerants.
Costa Rica
Ms. Cindy Sofia Sterling Howard, of the Limón Customs Office, and Mr. Luis Gerardo Barrantes Suárez, of the Costa Rican Fiscal Control Police, who together seized 412 cylinders of HCFC-22 in 2014. Due to effective subsequent control measures, the National Customs Service of Costa Rica was able to identify past illegal trafficking and confiscate the remaining goods.
Dominican Republic
The National Ozone Program of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and the General Directorate of Customs of the Dominican Republic, for the seizure of 6,700 cylinders of CFC-12 erroneously labeled as HFC-134a in 2017. The company was subjected to a fine and the cylinders must be re-exported to the country of origin.
Honduras
The Ozone Technical Unit, the Secretariat of Natural Resources and Environment of Honduras and the Executive Directorate of Revenue of the Customs Office of Puerto Cortés, for nine different seizures of illegal trafficking between 2015-2018 of used milk tanks and air conditioners containing HCFC-22, which is prohibited by national law. The confiscated equipment was adapted to alternative refrigerants before being donated to public institutions.
Paraguay
Mr. Juan Carlos Amarilla Rojas, the Focal Point of Green Customs and the General Directorate of Customs of Paraguay, for three seizures that included 1,150 cylinders of HCFC-22 mainly in 2010, and 27,000 split air conditioning units using HCFC-22 gas, in 2015.
Colombia
The Ozone Technical Unit of Colombia's Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development also received an award for the effective use of OzonAction's informal prior informed consent (iPIC) mechanism for the import and export of ozone-depleting substances.
In this case, China's Import/Export Licensing Office contacted Colombia and properly identified that the export permit application made in China did not match the import license issued by colombian authorities. As a result, the export of 4,704 kg of HCFC-22 was rejected.
These countries confiscated a total of 9,412 cylinders and 27,024 pieces of equipment in Latin America. In some cases, the issue of disposal of seized assets (re-export, destruction, auction and monitoring of operations) is still being decided.
