Infrared spectra recorded by the Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy Experiment (ATMOS) and the Interferometric Monitor for Greenhouse Gases (IMG) remote sensors have been analyzed by means of line-by-line radiative transfer calculations in order to evaluate the possibilities offered by solar occultation and by nadir instruments to monitor the cholorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and their substitutes. The reliability of the existing spectroscopic parameters has been examined, and it was found that only laboratory parameters measured at high resolution reproduce the satellite observations well. It is shown that solar occultation spectra can give information regarding the atmospheric abundance of CFC-113, in addition to the usual retrievals of CFC-11, CFC-12 and HCFC-22. Also, relying on existing emission scenarios, it is foreseen that future solar occultation experiments, such as the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE), will be able to detect HCFC-142b and HFC-134a, from the year 2005 onward and at low tangent heights. As for the nadir-looking missions, it is found that CFC-11, CFC-12 and HCFC-22 can be retrieved from IMG spectra, provided that numerous measurements are averaged over space or time, thereby mitigating the usefulness of such measurements for determining surface sources. The improved geometrical scanning performances of the future nadir-looking Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) and the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES), however, are shown to be more promising in this respect.