Illegal trade in ODS first came to light in the mid-90s, and caught enforcement agencies off guard, especially in Europe, where action against this activity has lagged behind the more concerted efforts seen in the US. The possibility of a black market was certainly not foreseen by the legislators who framed the Montreal Protocol and its early amendments. With hindsight, licensing systems should have been implemented at a much earlier stage, rather than waiting until 1997, by which time smuggling had become entrenched and around 20 000 tonnes of ODS were being traded illegally worldwide every year. This is equivalent to over 12 per cent of global ODS production at that time, although other estimates state that around 20 per cent of all ODS traded in the mid-1990s came from illegal sources(1).

In the late 1990s, EIA uncovered sophisticated networks supplying illegal ODS mainly from Russia and China to the markets of the US and EU(1),(2). Recently there have been encouraging signs that the smuggling of ODS into the markets of the US and EU has declined. In the US the procedures for importing ODS have been tightened, and the activities of the multi-agency 'US Task Force on ODS Smuggling' have deterred many of those involved in the illicit trade, while the EU has implemented a sale and use ban for CFCs and halons, making illicit market activity easier to spot.

Yet the US remains a lucrative market for ODS smugglers, with Europe continuing to be used as a trans-shipment point for black market CFCs. A recent case involved the movement of CFCs from the Far East through two European ports, with the declared final destination being a Caribbean island, although markings on the packaging indicate that the US was the ultimate destination(3). Last year a seizure of CFCs in Florida took place, with the contraband carrying the HARP brand name used by the British company HRP Refrigerants(4). There are also indications that despite the EU sales ban there is still an active market for these chemicals in many member states(5). EIA has received reports of refrigeration companies in Denmark discovering cylinders of CFC-12 (Dichlorodifluoromethane) falsely labelled as HCFC-22 which are smuggled in from Lithuania, Poland and Russia(6).

An additional tool in the fight against the illegal trade has been the introduction of licensing systems for movement of ODS, introduced under the Montreal Amendment of 1997. Despite this, EIA has observed new trends in the patterns of ODS smuggling since the late 1990s, with Article 5 (developing) countries experiencing an upsurge in contraband ODS movement.