HCFC-142b is used as a refrigerant, as a blowing agent for foam plastics production, and as feedstock to make polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). It was introduced to replace the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that were initially undergoing a phase-out per the Montreal Protocol, but HCFCs still have a significant ozone-depletion ability.  As of year 2020, HCFC's are replaced by non ozone depleting HFCs within many applications.
In the United States, the EPA stated that HCFCs could be used in "processes that result in the transformation or destruction of the HCFCs", such as using HCFC-142b as a feedstock to make PVDF.   HCFCs could also be used in equipment that was manufactured before January 1, 2010. The point of these new regulations was to phase-out HCFCs in much the same way that CFCs were phased out. HCFC-142b production in non article 5 countries like the United States was banned on January 1, 2020, under the Montreal Protocol.