Greece imposes €2.9m fine on illegal HFC shipment

GREECE: Greek customs authorities claim to have imposed a fine of €2.9m following the seizure of 8.2 tonnes of illegal HFC refrigerant at the port of Thessaloniki.

Checking the import documents for the shipment of R407C from Turkey, customs inspectors of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue found that the right to import fluorinated gases was not authentic, and the shipment did not have the required import quota.

The inspectors proceeded to seize the illegal goods, imposed a fine of €2.9m, assessed customs duties of approximately €9,000 and opened a case for smuggling.

With major ports with frequent connections to China and a land border with the EU, Turkey has previously been pinpointed as a popular stop-off point for illegal refrigerant making its way from China to the EU.