Regulation 2009/1005 - Substances that deplete the ozone layer (recast) - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 286/1

Regulation (EC) No 2037/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 June 2000 on substances that deplete the ozone layer (3) has been substantially amended several times. Since further amendments are to be made, it should be recast in the interests of clarity.

It is established that continued emissions of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) cause significant damage to the ozone layer. There is clear evidence of a decrease in the atmospheric burden of ODS and some early signs of stratospheric ozone recovery have been observed. However, the recovery of the ozone layer to the concentrations level existing before 1980 is not projected to take place before the middle of the 21st century. Increased UV-B radiation resulting from ozone depletion therefore persists as a significant threat to health and environment. At the same time, most of these substances have high global warming potential and are contributory factors towards increasing the temperature of the planet. Further efficient measures need therefore to be taken in order to protect human health and the environment against adverse effects resulting from such emissions and to avoid risking further delay in the recovery of the ozone layer.

In view of its responsibilities for the environment and trade, the Community, pursuant to Council Decision 88/540/EEC (4), has become a Party to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (hereinafter ‘the Protocol’).

Many ODS are greenhouse gases but are not controlled under the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol on the assumption that the Protocol will phase out ODS. Despite progress made by the Protocol, the task of phasing out ODS still needs to be completed in the European Union and globally, whilst bearing in mind that at present many alternatives to ODS have a high global warming potential. It is therefore necessary to minimise and eliminate the production and use of ODS wherever technically feasible alternatives with low global warming potential are available.

Additional measures for the protection of the ozone layer were adopted by the Parties to the Protocol, most recently at their meeting in Montreal in September 2007 and in Doha in November 2008. It is necessary for action to be taken at Community level to comply with the Community’s obligations under the Protocol and in particular to implement the accelerated phase out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons with due consideration to the risks of phasing in alternatives with high global warming potential.

Following the concerns stated in the 2006 Report of the Scientific Assessment Panel related to the accelerating growth of production and consumption of hydrochlorofluorocarbons in developing countries, the Parties to the Protocol in 2007 adopted Decision XIX/6 at their 19th Meeting providing for an accelerated phase-out schedule for hydrochlorofluorocarbons. Following that Decision the production phase-out date should be brought forward from 2025...