Pakistan plugs HCFC loophole

PAKISTAN: Customs authorities have been instructed to stop clearance/release of imported R22 to avoid breaching Pakistan’s commitment under the Montreal Protocol.

The instructions were issued last week by the Pakistan government’s Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) after its Climate Change Division discovered an import authorisation granted to an importer in Rawalpindi in excess of an allocated quota.

The Ministry of Commerce had issued the authorisation on July 19 2012 for the import of the 5,000 tonnes of HCFC-22 the Rawalpindi-based company. Under Pakistan’s HCFC phase-out obligations  the base line for the import of HCFCs is 247 ODP tons.