13 November 2008
Maputo — The Mozambican Environment Ministry handed over this Thursday to the Tax Authority (AT) equipment to identify the type of gas contained in household appliances entering the country.
The equipment consist of four machines, which cost about 34,000 Euros (40,800 US dollars), to be used by the customs services to detect any banned type of gas in appliances that enter the country.
It is feared that a number of fridges, air conditioners and other appliances entering through the country's borders may still be using R12 gas. This gas (scientific name, dichlorodifluoromethane) is a CFC (Chloro Fluoro Carbon), the kind of gas responsible for damaging the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere.
Under the Montreal Protocol, which took effect in 1989 and has now been signed by virtually every country on the planet, R12 and similar gases were to be phased out (indeed the target date for reducing production and consumption of R12 to zero was 1996).
The refrigerant gas deemed to be most appropriate for replacing R12 is R-134A, or tetrafluoroethane. Its thermodynamic properties are similar to those of R12, but it does not cause ozone depletion.
Until now, Mozambican Customs officials have not possessed the necessary equipment to identify the type of gas imported appliances are using. They thus allowed anything through, and this might include refrigerators that cannot be sold in much of the world because they contain R12.
According to Leonardo Manuel, the focal point of the Montreal Protocol in Mozambique, this equipment will guarantee the ban on substances that destroy the ozone layer, through the control of the type of gas contained in imported appliances and sold in the national market.
Speaking shortly after the signing of the hand over terms between AT chairperson Rosario Fernandes and the Permanent Secretary of the Environment Ministry, Jose Guambe, Manuel said that the equipment was purchased with the support of the United Nations, and is to help the country comply with the Montreal Protocol.
For his part, Fernandes stressed that it is the task of the customs services to contribute to protecting and preserving the environment.
Customs services officials are to receive a course in the next few days on how to use the new equipment.
The Environment Ministry has also equipment to be installed in the regional centres tasked with recovering, recycling gases, and training cooling technicians. Such centres are to function in Matola, Beira and Nampula, in the south, centre and north of the country, as from next year.
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