The Tenth Meeting of the Parties decided:
1. to request the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel, as part of its ongoing work:
(a) to assess the volumes and uses of methyl bromide under the quarantine and pre-shipment exemption, including the trend in use since the 1991 base year;
(b) to report on the existing and potential availability of alternative substances and technologies, identifying those applications where alternative treatments do not currently exist, and also on the availability and economic viability of recovery, containment and recycling technologies;
(c) to report on the operation of quarantine and pre-shipment exemptions as set out in decision VII/5, including the scope of the pre-shipment definition;
(d) to report on existing and potential options that individual Parties might consider to reduce the use and emissions of methyl bromide from its application under the quarantine and pre-shipment exemption and to elaborate further on their recommendations in previous reports, and taking into account the special circumstances of Parties operating under paragraph 1 of Article 5 of the Protocol;
(e) to review and report on the amendment by the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) to its quarantine and non-quarantine pests definitions, and the FAO/IPPC structure relative to the use of pesticides for regulated non-quarantine pests, to help determine whether clarification of the definitions of quarantine and pre-shipment, taking into account these FAO/IPPC usage, would help encourage consistency in the quarantine and pre-shipment definitions;
(f) to submit its findings to the Open-ended Working Group of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol at its first meeting in 1999;
2. to request the Open-ended Working Group, in the light of the report of the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel, to make any appropriate recommendations for consideration by the Eleventh Meeting of the Parties;
3. to request the Parties to submit to the Secretariat by 31 December 1999 a list of regulations that mandate the use of methyl bromide for quarantine and pre-shipment treatments;
4. to remind the Parties of the need to report on the volumes of methyl bromide consumed under the quarantine and pre-shipment exemption as set out in decision IX/28.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro.10/9, Decision X/11).
The Seventh Meeting of the Parties decided that:
(a) "Quarantine applications", with respect to methyl bromide , are treatments to prevent the introduction, establishment and/or spread of quarantine pests (including diseases), or to ensure their official control, where:
(i) official control is that performed by, or authorized by, a national plant, animal or environmental protection or health authority;
(ii) quarantine pests are pests of potential importance to the areas endangered thereby and not yet present there, or present but not widely distributed and being officially controlled;
(b) "Pre-shipment applications" are those treatments applied directly preceding and in relation to export, to meet the phytosanitary or sanitary requirements of the importing country or existing phytosanitary or sanitary requirements of the exporting country;
(c) in applying these definitions, all countries are urged to refrain from use of methyl bromide and to use non-ozone-depleting technologies wherever possible. Where methyl bromide is used, Parties are urged to minimize emissions and use of methyl bromide through containment and recovery and recycling methodologies to the extent possible.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro.7/12, Decision VII/5).
The Eleventh Meeting of the Parties decided:
1. to note that, while the reliability of the survey data was noted by the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel to be insufficient to draw firm conclusions, the Panel's April 1999 report estimates that over 22 per cent of the methyl bromide use is excluded from control under the quarantine and pre-shipment exemption, and that this use is increasing in some countries;
2. to note that the Science Assessment Panel revised the ODP of methyl bromide to 0.4 in its 1998 report;
3. to note that, under an amendment adopted by the Eleventh Meeting of the Parties, each Party shall provide the Secretariat with statistical data on the annual amount of the controlled substance listed in Annex E used for quarantine and pre-shipment applications.
4. to request that the 2003 report of the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel:
(a) evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of alternative treatments and procedures that can replace methyl bromide for quarantine and pre-shipment;
(b) estimate the volume of methyl bromide that would be replaced by the implementation of technically and economically feasible alternatives for quarantine and pre-shipment, reported by commodity and/or application;
5. to request the Parties to review their national plant, animal, environmental, health and stored product regulations with a view to removing the requirement for the use of methyl bromide for quarantine and pre-shipment where technically and economically feasible alternatives exist;
6. to urge the Parties to implement procedures (using a form shown in the Panel's April 1999 report, if necessary) to monitor the uses of methyl bromide by commodity and quantity for quarantine and pre-shipment uses in order:
(a) to target the efficient use of resources for undertaking research to develop and implement technically and economically feasible alternatives;
(b) to encourage early identification of technically and economically feasible alternatives to methyl bromide for quarantine and pre-shipment where such alternatives exist;
7. to encourage the use of methyl bromide recovery and recycling technology (where technically and economically feasible) to reduce emissions of methyl bromide , until alternatives to methyl bromide for quarantine and pre-shipment uses are available.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro.11/10, Decision XI/13).