Circumstances for the consideration of ODS phase-out in the commercial refrigeration end-user sector

The Twenty-seventh Meeting of the Executive Committee decided:

(a) to note with appreciation the work carried out by the Secretariat to prepare the proposed initial guidelines;

(b) to request the Secretariat and the Implementing Agencies to refine the proposed guidelines, taking into account the comments made by the members of the Sub-Committee.

The Twenty-eighth Meeting of the Executive Committee decided to adopt the following guidelines for end-user conversion in the commercial refrigeration sector:

For an initial period of 18 months, the relevant circumstances which must prevail before priority will be accorded to end-user conversion activities are:

that the country has production and import controls on CFCs and CFC-based equipment in place and effectively enforced, and restricts the deployment of new CFC components;

that, at the time of seeking compensation in the form of grants for end-user conversions, the country can establish that its major remaining consumption is for the servicing of refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment;

to establish the above, that comprehensive data on the profile of all remaining consumption has been determined and made available to the Executive Committee;

that either no other possible activities would allow the country to meet its CFC control obligations, or the comparative consumer price of CFCs, relative to substitute refrigerants, has been high for at least 9 months and is predicted to continue to increase.

The guidelines for the initial period of 18 months are:

• retrofitting of commercial refrigeration equipment should continue to be assessed on a case-by-case basis;
• training of refrigeration technicians should be recognised as part of end-user conversion activity in the refrigeration sector;
• retrofitting of commercial refrigeration equipment would be considered for funding based on the experience gained from implementation of the relevant parts of a refrigerant management plan;
• for the initial period, pending review, priority should be given to projects for the conversion of cold stores in the agricultural, fisheries or other food-chain industries which are important for the economies of the countries concerned;
• for the initial period, the costs associated with replacement of the refrigerant, replacement of the oil and minor capital items where necessary, and labour at the local labour rate, will be eligible as incremental costs. More extensive conversions including reconditioning or replacement of compressors and major overhaul of refrigeration systems will not be considered under the initial guidelines. Incremental operating costs and savings should be calculated as for other commercial refrigeration projects for a two-year period;
• enterprise consumption will be the average annual quantity of CFC refrigerant which can be established as having been added to the refrigeration system as per existing Executive Committee guidelines;
• no cost-effectiveness threshold needs to be established for this initial period but all existing baseline conditions and eligibility criteria will be applied. The funding for the initial period of 18 months will be limited to US $10 million;
• these guidelines should be reviewed after being in operation for 18 months.

(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/28/57, Decision 28/44, para 76).

(Supporting document: UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/28/47).

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