Geneva, 24 January 2025
For over thirty years, parties to the Montreal Protocol, a multilateral environmental agreement (MEA), have controlled man-made chemicals used largely in refrigeration and air-conditioning that were destroying the ozone layer. Without these controls, increasing levels of harmful ultraviolet radiation would have reached Earth, damaging human and planetary health.
The vigilance has paid off, with over 99 per cent of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) banned, and the ozone hole now repairing itself. However, an increasingly limited supply of these chemicals, some of which are still widely used, creates a potentially lucrative black market prompting a number of unscrupulous individuals and companies to trade these illegally. This can be due to numerous reasons such as continued demand, high profit margins and the low risk of being prosecuted. Use and continued emissions of these controlled substances not only undermines ozone layer recovery, but also the environment, as many are also potent climate warming gases contributing to climate warming.
To combat the threat of illegal trade, the Montreal Protocol has put in place safeguards such as the requirement for its parties to establish export and import licensing systems to monitor movement of refrigerants domestically and internationally. The parties to the Protocol are also requested to voluntarily report on any cases of illegal trade intercepted at their borders to share information with each other on practices used by national authorities to detect and prevent illegal trade. In 2023, the parties held a workshop organized by the Protocol’s Secretariat to assess, as well the challenges and successes of enforcement and reporting to date.
Effective border controls
During a workshop on strengthening effective implementation and enforcement of the Montreal Protocol convened in 2023 for the parties, one of the key points addressed was the scale and scope of the global illegal trade in controlled substances. The export, import, and re-export of goods may take place within free trade zones, as part of trans-shipments with an intermediate destination, or across territorial borders with very little monitoring or customs control. The extent of such illegal trade is generally unknown but widely believed to go beyond the cases reported by the parties.
To support country-standard border controls, customs authorities also cooperate with their environmental counterparts deploy various methods to detect and intercept attempts to illegally move substances, including risk profiling, document inspection and random checks at the border. The informal prior informed consent (iPIC) mechanism of OzonAction and the World Customs Organization (WCO) Advance Cargo Information Systems have emerged as important ways to prevent such trade. Collaboration with industry helps to get useful insight and intelligence on the market situation and potentially fraudulent activities. These examples indicate that addressing the issue requires a multifaceted approach. Training and capacity building of customs and border officials and trans-boundary and border authority collaboration also need to be part of this framework approach.
More punitive measures can also be invoked by parties in cases of non-compliance when the required license is lacking, for example, or the allocated quota has been exceeded. All measures not only help combat illegal trade but also help prevent it by better informing stakeholders, who are often not fully aware of the processes and procedures. Public information of the national measures to control the production and consumption of controlled substances also help promote awareness, compliance and create a culture of compliance.
Building better together
Synergies and information sharing to build on lessons learned and experiences relating to trade between different MEAs such as the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, the Minamata Convention on Mercury and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) help create a more coordinated approach. Training programmes and workshops targeting customs and border control officers, such as UNEP’s Green Customs Initiative or World Customs CLiKC Platform promote capacity building and improved interception rates.
As long as the demand for substances monitored or banned under the Montreal Protocol remains, trading beyond quotas or illegal trafficking across borders could also remain. The overarching consensus of the parties noted that prevention and combatting of the illegal trade in controlled substances require a strategic “whole-of-government-approach” that involves the mobilization and effective collaboration of different agencies and industry stakeholders, both domestically, regionally and internationally in pursuit of a common objective.
About the Montreal Protocol
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is one of the most successful multilateral environent agreement (MEA) to date. It is a global protecting the Earth’s ozone layer by phasing out the chemicals that deplete it. Thanks to the collaborative effort of nations around the world, the ozone layer is well on its way to recovery.
The parties to the Protocol meet once a year to make decisions aimed at ensuring the successful implementation of the agreement. These include adjusting or amending the Protocol; most recently the Kigali Amendment to address hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used in cooling equipment.
HFCs were used as replacements for ozone-depleting substances eliminated by the original Montreal Protocol. Although they do not deplete the ozone layer, they are powerful greenhouse gases contributing to climate change. Countries that ratify the Amendment commit to phasing down HFCs which could reduce temperatures by 0.5°C by 2100. If combined with the conversion of equipment to become more energy efficient, these gains could potentially double during the same time.
Source – UNEP