The Nineteenth Meeting of the Executive Committee considered the joint report of UNDP and UNEP on approaches to ODS phase-out in small and medium-sized enterprises and decided:
(a) to take note with appreciation of the joint report of UNDP and UNEP;
(b) to pursue consideration of approaches to phase-out of ODS in small and medium-sized enterprises;
(c) to request comments in writing from members of the Executive Committee on the approaches outlined in the document with a view to the Secretariat preparing a new document in consultation with the Implementing Agencies for consideration by the Twentieth Meeting; and
(d) to consider requests in projects related to small and medium-sized enterprises for unavoidable and unintentional technology upgrades on a case-by-case basis.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/19/64, Decision 19/31, para. 56).
The Twentieth Meeting of the Executive Committee decided:
(a) to note the decisions already taken by the Executive Committee, which could assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in low-volume-ODS-consuming countries and as part of terminal umbrella projects;
(b) to request the Secretariat, in co-operation with the Implementing Agencies and the countries concerned, to provide the Executive Committee with relevant information about SMEs, including the best available information on the SME sector and any available information that could be helpful in assessing the impact on the overall phase-out schedule;
(c) to request the Secretariat, on the basis of this information, and inter alia taking into account the UNDP/UNEP paper (UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/19/54) and comments thereon:
(i) to refine the definition of small and medium-sized enterprises;
(ii) to make recommendations to the Twenty-second meeting of the Executive Committee for options to advance phase-out in the SME sector, including the possibility of a funding window with appropriate cost-effectiveness thresholds;
(d) to invite Executive Committee members to provide additional comments in writing to the Secretariat;
(f) to reaffirm existing Executive Committee guidance on the choice of HCFCs as a substitute technology and that this applied to all Multilateral Fund projects.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/20/72, Decision 20/41, para. 62).
(Supporting document: UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/20/61).
The Twenty-second Meeting of the Executive Committee decided:
(a) to note the report on options to advance phase-out in the SME sector;
(b) to note that several representatives expressed concern about problems associated with accessing the relevant data and with its reliability;
(c) to invite countries to provide the Secretariat and the Executive Committee with explanations of the factors responsible for these problems;
(d) to note also that several representatives expressed concerns that advancing phase-out in the SME sector required moving beyond relying on "a project approach" and focusing, instead, on other types of support measures to assist individual Article 5 Parties to meet the ODS control schedules in the Montreal Protocol.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/22/79/Rev.1, Decision 22/66, para. 88).
The Twenty-fifth Meeting of the Executive Committee decided to include an allocation of US $10 million from the resource allocation for 1999 for a funding window designed to facilitate pilot conversions of significant groups of small firms that met the following criteria:
(a) given the fact that SME projects for low-volume consuming countries are currently fully eligible, this window should apply only to group projects from countries with annual ODS consumption of 360 ODP tonnes or more;
(b) eligible group projects for this initial pilot programme should be in the aerosol or foam sectors only, and should include firms with annual ODS consumption not exceeding the following:
Foams: Flexible 25 ODP tonnes/year
Extruded polyethylene/polystyrene 25 ODP tonnes/year
Flexible integral skin 10 ODP tonnes/year
Rigid polyurethane foams 10 ODP tonnes/year
(c) group projects should be at a level of US $1 million or less, and should have an overall cost-effectiveness of no more than 150 per cent of the level of the current cost-effectiveness thresholds for the relevant eligible subsectors in (b) above. Such group projects should use the most cost-effective technologies reasonably available, and should consider the possible use of centralized/group use of equipment and industrial rationalization;
(d) the group project should be put forward with a government plan, including policies and regulations designed to ensure that the specific level of agreed reduction to be achieved was sustained;
(e) no single country may apply for more than US $1 million from this pilot funding window although projects from one country may cover more than one sector.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/25/68, Decision 25/56, para. 105).
The Twenty-fifth Meeting of the Executive Committee also noted that the question of SMEs would, for the time being, be transferred to the Sub-Committee on Project Review for consideration from a wider perspective.