(Finance) – The Guardia di Finanza has announced that the operational phase of the JO DEMETERjoint customs operation aimed at repression of illegal cross-border waste trafficking controlled under the Basel Convention and illegal trade in ozone-depleting substances (ODS) and F-GAS, controlled under the Montreal Protocol.
The operation, coordinated by the World Customs Organization – WCO, in collaboration with the Chinese Customs Administration and the WCO Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia/Pacific (RILO AP), coinciding with its tenth edition, saw the participation of a record number of 110 countries.
The customs control activities carried out on national territorywith the coordination of the Anti-Fraud Directorate of the Customs and Monopolies Agency and the General Command of the Guardia di Finanza, allowed the following violations to be ascertained: 473,007 kg of waste relating to ferrous and non-ferrous scrap, electronic waste, vehicles, packaging, textiles and 900 end-of-life tyres; 80,293 kg of refrigerant gases (in violation of the Montreal Convention).
The violations that emerged during the customs operation in question were detected by the Agency offices and by Territorial departments of the Corps of Bari, Brindisi, Gioia Tauro, Genoa, Alessandria, Trieste, Livorno, Ancona, Como, Syracuse, Salerno.
Overall, a global levelthe collaboration between the administrations of the 110 countries involved allowed the seizure of 9,839,184.93 kg and 1,422,981 pieces of waste; 344,625.9 kg of ODS and HFCs, 24,198.9 kg and 11,620 pieces of equipment containing or based on controlled substances; 77,328.75 kg and 7,242 pieces of other restricted or prohibited goods.