United States. The Alliance for a Responsible Atmospheric Policy (ARAP) praised the national government for its actions against HCFC refrigerant traffickers.
In the past two years, the U.S. Government successfully concluded eleven criminal and civil cases related to the control of R22 refrigerant.
The individuals and businesses were convicted of several crimes involving the illegal importation or sale of more than 3,300,000 pounds of R22, were fined more than $1.5 million, required to lose revenue of nearly $2.7 million and received jail time or probation for more than 26 years.
In the U.S., R22 can be legally produced locally and imported as long as EPA-issued quota allocations are spent. Those who import HCFCs without legal benefits are a violation of federal law.
