The Twentieth Meeting of the Executive Committee decided:
(a) that when preparing projects in countries where serious delays in implementation were likely to occur, the Implementing Agencies could raise these issues with the Executive Committee in those cases where it seemed that the Executive Committee might be able to help remove the impediment, and should submit projects only when such impediments had been resolved;
(b) noting that it could be the case that one agency’s projects in a given country were proceeding smoothly, while another’s were seriously delayed, an agency not encountering such major delays should continue to submit projects for that country.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/20/72, Decision 20/12, para. 23).
The Twenty-first Meeting of the Executive Committee decided to request the Implementing Agencies to provide the Executive Committee at its Twenty-second Meeting with a list of projects where there had been no significant activity in the last two years.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/21/36, Decision 21/28, para. 41).
The Twenty-second Meeting of the Executive Committee decided:
(a) where no disbursement had occurred 18 months after the date of approval of a project, a full explanation of the reason for the delay should be submitted by the Implementing Agency to the next meeting of the Executive Committee for review. Those reports should contain the comments received from the Article 5 countries and enterprises concerned;
(b) where a project had not been completed 12 months after the proposed completion date in the progress report of the Implementing Agencies to the Executive Committee, a full explanation of the reason for the delay should also be submitted by the Implementing Agencies to the next meeting of the Executive Committee for review. Those reports should contain the comments received from the Article 5 countries and enterprises concerned;
(c) to review the reports on a case-by-case basis and decide upon the action required;
(d) on the basis of the experience gained through consideration of these reports, to consider the development of guidelines to ensure that the project preparation process included measures to prevent any delays in implementation or completion in the future.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/22/79/Rev.1, Decision 22/61, para. 81).
The Twenty-second Meeting of the Executive Committee noted the Sub-Committee’s decision to address, at its next meeting, the following additional reasons for delays in implementation:
(a) changes in project specification by the beneficiary;
(b) enterprises refrained from implementing their projects until their competitors’ projects had been approved or government regulations had been enacted;
(c) the bidding process resulted in higher costs;
(d) the difficulty of obtaining agreements on the transfer of technology;
(e) prolonged contract negotiations;
(f) changes in technology;
(g) differences in appraised tonnage;
(h) completion of grant agreements.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/22/79/Rev.1, Decision 22/62, para. 82).
The Twenty-third Meeting of the Executive Committee decided:
(a) to encourage the Implementing Agencies to facilitate, where possible, the transfer of technologies and make greater efforts to assist in the negotiation of technology transfer agreements between the supplier and the recipient where those were necessary;
(b) to request the World Bank to continue its efforts to obtain exemption from taxes for equipment purchased under the Multilateral Fund and to produce a progress report on the matter in time for the Sub-Committee’s fourth meeting;
(c) to request the Sub-Committee to maintain a watching brief on project implementation delays.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/23/68, Decision 23/4, para. 16).
The Twenty-fourth Meeting of the Executive Committee decided:
(a) that as projects suffering from serious delays were relatively few, they could be highlighted on a case-by-case basis at each meeting, when any appropriate guidance could be provided to the Implementing Agencies;
(b) to urge the Implementing Agencies to make greater efforts to overcome existing delays and to take appropriate measures to avoid such delays in the future; and
(c) to request the Secretariat to analyze specific types of delay, such as bankruptcy, with the Implementing Agencies and present a paper on the subject to its next meeting.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/24/47, Decision 24/7, para. 25).
The Twenty-fourth Meeting of the Executive Committee decided that no project preparation proposals should be put forward by Implementing Agencies if there were impediments at policy level in the country concerned to active and expeditious implementation. Furthermore, in cases where counterpart contributions were needed to ensure implementation, in order to avoid delays in the projects’ implementation, those counterpart contributions should be known to the Implementing Agency to be in place before the projects were submitted.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/24/47, Decision 24/49, para. 77).
The Twenty-eighth Meeting of the Executive Committee decided that reports on projects with implementation delays to be submitted to its Twenty-ninth Meeting should be based on the Secretariat’s list of projects with implementation delays, including project preparation and those projects where disbursement had begun after no disbursement had taken place for a period of 18 months.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/28/57, Decision 28/8, para. 22).