The Sixteenth Meeting of the Executive Committee agreed to give priority to the preparation of projects in the fire extinguisher sub-sector over the next few years. In this regard, Implementing Agencies should, over the next three years, develop and submit projects to phase-out the entire halon fire extinguisher sub-sector in Article 5 countries. During this time frame, the Executive Committee would consider projects in this sub-sector taking into consideration six months of operating cost/savings. Following this time frame, the calculation of incremental cost/savings would be expected to revert to the four-year level that had been the tradition for this sub-sector.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/16/20, para. 81).
(Supporting document: UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/16/16).
The Executive Committee also agreed to the following special arrangements:
(a) to avoid unintentional market distortions, projects should be submitted to phase-out the country's entire fire extinguisher sub-sector and the funding distributed among all manufacturers in the sub-sector. However, for countries with more than five halon extinguisher enterprises, the projects could be submitted in groups of enterprises that were likely to be competitive for the same market within the country;
(b) to ensure that the project objectives were fulfilled, the government should clearly indicate that the use of halon 1211 in the sub-sector covered by the project approved by the Committee should be prohibited through import bans or commitments to reduced halon production, or both;
(c) agreements should be reached with upstream substitute producers whose conversion was supported by the Fund to determine the appropriate input prices for substitutes used by downstream manufacturers to avoid double-counting; and
(d) to standardize project proposals and facilitate an expeditious review, baseline and with-project capital and operating costs should be presented in project proposals.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/16/20, para. 82).
(Supporting document: UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/16/16).
The Eighteenth Meeting of the Executive Committee decided that flexibility should be shown in the case of large halon-producing enterprises, but that the burden of proving the need for conversion to a range of technologies should be placed on the enterprise. It also underlined the desirability of maintaining the 85-15 per cent ratio of ABC-powder/carbon dioxide after conversion of the sector.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/18/75, Decision 18/4, para. 16(b).
(Supporting document: UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/16/16).
The Executive Committee requested Article 5 countries with several halon fire extinguisher manufacturers to include in their sub-sector phase-out requests for funding a plan for the distribution of the country's total sectoral incremental costs to address any unintentional market distortions, and the Implementing Agencies to provide an itemization of all miscellaneous and capital costs, to utilize a materials balance approach to the calculation of incremental operating costs/savings in the halon fire extinguisher sub-sector and to specify the after-conversion product line in terms of the sizes of fire extinguishers to be produced as a result of the conversion.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/18/75, Annex V, paras. 1-2).
(Supporting document: UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/16/16).
The Nineteenth Meeting of the Executive Committee, having considered the document on the re-examination of guidelines for halon fire extinguisher conversion projects prepared by the Secretariat (UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/19/56), decided:
(b) that there was no need at present to amend any of the existing provisions of the guidelines for halon fire extinguisher conversion projects; and
(c) to note that the Fund Secretariat and the Implementing Agencies would develop a joint paper proposing an addition to the guidelines to address capital and operating costs.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/19/64, Decision 19/33, para. 58(b, c).
The Twentieth Meeting of the Executive Committee decided:
(a) that priority funding should be given for the preparation of projects in the halon fire extinguisher subsector in its business planning for 1997;
(b) that, as an interim measure before the Committee took a decision on whether or not to endorse the agreement on eligible cost categories in document UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/20/66 as an addition to the guidelines, the Implementing Agencies should use those categories in preparing projects for the halon fire extinguisher subsector for submission to the next meeting of the Executive Committee.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/20/72, Decision 20/46, para. 69).
(Supporting document: UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/20/66).