The Fifteenth Meeting of the Parties decided:
1. that the Parties to the Beijing Amendment will determine their obligations to ban the import and export of controlled substances in group I of Annex C (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) with respect to States and regional economic organizations that are not parties to the Beijing Amendment by January 1 2004 in accordance with the following:
(a) the term “State not party to this Protocol” in Article 4, paragraph 9 does not apply to those States operating under Article 5, paragraph 1, of the Protocol until January 1, 2016 when, in accordance with the Copenhagen and Beijing Amendments, hydrochlorofluorocarbon production and consumption control measures will be in effect for States that operate under Article 5, paragraph 1, of the Protocol;
(b) the term “State not party to this Protocol” includes all other States and regional economic integration organizations that have not agreed to be bound by the Copenhagen and Beijing Amendments;
(c) recognizing, however, the practical difficulties imposed by the timing associated with the adoption of the foregoing interpretation of the term “State not party to this Protocol,” paragraph 1 (b) shall apply unless such a State has by 31 March 2004:
(i) notified the Secretariat that it intends to ratify, accede or accept the Beijing Amendment as soon as possible;
(ii) certified that it is in full compliance with Articles 2, 2A to 2G and Article 4 of the Protocol, as amended by the Copenhagen Amendment;
(iii) submitted data on (i) and (ii) above to the Secretariat, to be updated on 31 March 2005, in which case that State shall fall outside the definition of “State not party to this Protocol” until the conclusion of the Seventeenth Meeting of the Parties;
2. that the Secretariat shall transmit data received under paragraph 1 (c) above to the Implementation Committee and the Parties;
3. that the Parties shall consider the implementation and operation of the foregoing decision at the Sixteenth Meeting of the Parties, in particular taking into account any comments on the data submitted by States by 31 March 2004 under paragraph 1 (c) above that the Implementation Committee may make.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro.15/9, Decision XV/3).