German group seeks evidence of illegal trade
20th January 2019
GERMANY: Three of Germany’s leading refrigeration and air conditioning groups are calling on its members to report all instances of suspected illegal trades in refrigerant.
The so-called Bonn Voice coalition of the VDKF, ZVKKW and BIV is seeking a better overview of the illegal trade in F-gases in order, they say, to increase the political pressure on regulators and to act directly against those responsible.
Countries across Europe have highlighted the illegal trade in cheap refrigerants, encouraged by sharp increases in prices of HFCs last year. Despite crackdowns by the authorities, illegal refrigerant continues to be openly traded on the internet.
The Bonn Voice warns that the composition of this cheap refrigerant may not be what is claimed, and may have illegally bypassed the European quota system.
The groups have called on their members to provide them with evidence of suspect refrigerant from dubious sources that either does not meet specifications or is thought to have been imported outside of the European F-gas quota system.
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