Illegal imports of F-gas exceeded 10m tonnes
Refrigerant F-gases being illegally imported into the EU, claims two US manufacturers
A leading US manufacturer of the man-made F-gases has said that illegal imports of the gas exceeded 10 million tonnes in Europe in 2015.
The European Union’s F-gas regulations stipulate that only 182.5 million tonnes of F-gases can be placed on the European market per year, however, according to refrigerant manufacturer, Honeywell, illegal imports of F-gas exceeded 10 million tonnes in 2015, thus exceeding the annual market allowance.
F-gas imports in the EU exceed maximum allowed, according to US companies
Any manufacturer of fluorinated gases which wants to import its products into the EU must first register. It will then receive an allocation stating the maximum amount of F-gas it can import into the EU. Any company who is found to have imported more than its quota will find itself hit with a hefty import limit for the following year.
Honeywell, and another US refrigerant manufacturer, Chemours, have both carried out individual research using available import and export data and EFCTC (Cefic) data and have come to the conclusion that more F-gas is finding its way into the EU market than the allowed 182.5m tonnes.
Dr Patrick Amrhein, a marketing director at Honeywell, told the Cooling Post that the estimation of 10m illegal tonnes of imported F-gas is “a conservative figure”, and that it is probably much larger.
In an attempt to reduce illegal imports, Honeywell has set up a Authorised Dealers scheme which enables F-gas buyers to purchase refrigerant products that have been imported into the EU by registered companies.
Please click here to find out more about Airconuk.co.uk ‘s air conditioning services.
FREE QUOTE:Call us today to speak to our experts regarding Air Conditioning Installation, Service, Maintenance & Repairs - on Freephone 0800 311 8270
Read more News