The Seventeenth Meeting of the Executive Committee decided that projects involving process agents should be deferred until the Parties had taken a decision on the issue.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/17/60, Decision 17/13 para. 22).
Subsequently, the Seventh Meeting of the Parties, recognizing the need to restrict emissions of ozone-depleting substances from process-agent applications, decided to continue to treat process agents in a manner similar to feedstock only for 1996 and 1997; and to decide in 1997, following recommendations by the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel and its relevant subgroups, on modalities and criteria for a continued use of controlled substances as process agents, and on restricting their emissions, for 1998 and beyond.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro.7/12 Decision VII/10).
The Tenth Meeting of the Parties recognizing the usefulness of having the controlled substances produced and used as process agents clearly delineated within the Montreal Protocol, decided:
1. that, for the purposes of this decision, the term "process agents" should be understood to mean the use of controlled substances for the applications listed in Table A (Annex VII.2);
2. for non-Article 5 Parties, to treat process agents in a manner similar to feedstock for 1998 and until 31 December 2002;
3. that quantities of controlled substances produced or imported for the purpose of being used as process agents in plants and installations in operation before 1 January 1999, should not be taken into account in the calculation of production and consumption from 1 January 2002 onwards, provided that:
(a) in the case of non-Article 5 Parties, the emissions of controlled substances from these processes have been reduced to insignificant levels as defined for the purposes of this decision in Table B (Annex VII.2);
(b) in the case of Article 5 Parties, the emissions of controlled substances from process-agent use have been reduced to levels agreed by the Executive Committee to be reasonably achievable in a cost–effective manner without undue abandonment of infrastructure. In so deciding, the Executive Committee may consider a range of options as set out in paragraph 5 below;
4. that all Parties should:
(a) report to the Secretariat by 30 September 2000 and each year thereafter on their use of controlled substances as process agents, the levels of emissions from those uses and the containment technologies used by them to minimize emissions of controlled substances. Those non-Article 5 Parties which have still not reported data for inclusion in tables A and B are urged to do so as soon as possible and in any case before the nineteenth meeting of the Open Ended Working Group;
(b) in reporting annual data to the Secretariat for 2000 and each year thereafter, provide information on the quantities of controlled substances produced or imported by them for process-agent applications;
5. that the incremental costs of a range of cost effective measures, including, for example, process conversions, plant closures, emissions control technologies and industrial rationalization, to reduce emissions of controlled substances from process-agent uses in Article 5 Parties to the levels referred to in paragraph 3 (b) above should be eligible for funding in accordance with the rules and guidelines of the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund;
6. that the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund should, as a matter of priority, strive to develop funding guidelines and begin to consider initial project proposals during 1999;
7. that Parties should not install or commission new plant using controlled substances as process agents after 30 June 1999, unless the Meeting of the Parties has decided that the use in question meets the criteria for essential uses under decision IV/25;
8. to request the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel and the Executive Committee to report to the Meeting of the Parties in 2001 on the progress made in reducing emissions of controlled substances from process-agent uses and on the implementation and development of emissions-reduction techniques and alternative processes not using ozone-depleting substances and to review tables A and B of the present draft decision and make recommendations for any necessary changes.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro.10/9, Decision X/14).