Speaking last week at COP26, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Michael Regan emphasized the importance of enforceable regulations to deter and combat illegal trade in refrigerants.

While the U.S. is beginning to implement the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act to phase down HFC usage, other countries that have already started implementing HFC phasedowns have seen an increase in illegal trade that undermines the intended climate benefits of this transition.

Regan’s remarks reaffirm a September commitment by the EPA to establish an interagency task force to prevent illegal HFCs in order “to detect, deter, and disrupt any attempt to illegally import HFCs into the United States.”

globalFACT fully supports the U.S. EPA’s position: illegal imports must be identified and illegal trade must be stopped. A key piece of the industry’s efforts to detect and combat illegal activity is the EFCTC Action Line — a confidential mechanism for reporting illegal activity.

For more on globalFACT’s position on illegal imports, visit globalFACT.org/illegal-imports.