Counterfeit refrigerants in Middle East

13 July 2009

Following an assessment of the regional situation by senior representatives, DuPont Refrigerants has expressed its concerns over the prevalence of potentially dangerous counterfeits of R22 and R134a refrigerants within the Middle East. In order to avoid purchasing counterfeit or illegitimate products, DuPont urges its own customers to only source its refrigerant gas products from authorised distributors in the region.

Moreover, the company is diligently policing and actively challenging the unauthorised use and counterfeiting of its refrigerant gases to ensure its customers receive products of legitimate quality.
Frequently branded or packaged to resemble leading brands, such as Freon and Suva from DuPont, analysis of the counterfeit refrigerants has show them to contain dangerous and flammable blends of various components.

”Such mixtures are harmful in every sense of the word,” explained Pascal Faidy, business manager at DuPont Fluorochemicals Refrigerants, Europe, Middle East and Africa. “They are not only flammable and thus dangerous for those working directly with the refrigerant, but they contain ozone-depleting substances such as R12 and therefore do not support the phase-out of CFCs, the deadline for which is 2009 in the Middle East. Moreover we have witnessed cases where the use of such counterfeits has damaged components in air-conditioning systems. Finally, with regards to those products which are packaged to resemble genuine branded products, it is a blatant case of trade name abuse and counterfeiting.”

Many of the counterfeit refrigerants are believed to emanate from certain countries of Asia, and are destined for the Middle East due to the region’s large-scale requirements for R22 and R134a for use in air-conditioning systems.

DuPont believes its important role in the region in the refrigerants domain enables it to facilitate cooperation between local authorities on the prohibition of illegal imports, and to provide practical advice on the identification of counterfeiting products.

Faidy concluded: “The company has formed a specific local taskforce for this role. “For any wrong-doing, infringement or counterfeit we find, we reserve our right to enforce our trademark to the fullest extent of the law. We view trademark infringement and counterfeiting as serious matters which DuPont is not prepared to tolerate”.