The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is a global agreement to protect the Earth’s ozone layer by phasing out the chemicals that deplete it. This phase-out plan includes both the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances. The landmark agreement was signed in 1987 and entered into force in 1989. 

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When did we realize ozone depletion was an issue, and how did we fix it? By 1985, the globe had already seen advancements in the scientific understanding of ozone depletion and its impacts on human health and the environment. It was then that the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer was created in response. This agreement is a framework convention that lays out principles agreed upon by many parties. It does not, however, require countries to take control actions to protect the ozone layer. This would come later in the form of the Montreal Protocol. 
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Pursuant to Decision X/19 (4), the Secretariat is listing below decisions by the Parties on laboratory and analytical uses that should no longer be eligible for production and consumption of controlled ozone-depleting substances under the global exemption:

• Uses excluded from the global essential-use exemption (Decision VII/11 (6)):

1. Refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment used in laboratories, including refrigerated laboratory equipment such as ultra-centrifuges;
2. Cleaning, reworking, repair, or rebuilding of electronic components or assemblies;
3. Preservation of publications and archives; and
4. Sterilization of materials in a laboratory;

• Uses eliminated from the global exemption for laboratory and analytical uses (Decision XI/15)

1. Testing of oil, grease and total petroleum hydrocarbons in water;
2. Testing of tar in road-paving materials; and
3. Forensic finger-printing.

• Use eliminated from the global exemption for laboratory and analytical uses (Decision XIX/18)

1. Testing of organic matter in coal

• All uses of methyl bromide except those listed in decision XVIII/15 (see preamble of decision XXI/6)

Of relevance to the global exemption of laboratory and analytical uses are:

• Conditions applied to exemption for laboratory and analytical uses (Annex II of the Report of the Sixth Meeting of the Parties)
• Categories and examples of laboratory uses (Annex IV of the Report of the Seventh Meeting of the Parties)

Category of laboratory and analytical critical use to allow methyl bromide to be used (Decision XVIII/15(2))

Subject to the conditions applied to the exemption for laboratory and analytical uses contained in annex II to the report of the Sixth Meeting of the Parties, it was decided by the Parties to the Montreal Protocol at their Eighteenth Meeting to adopt a category of laboratory and analytical critical use to allow methyl bromide to be used:

“(a)      As a reference or standard:

(i)         To calibrate equipment which uses methyl bromide;
(ii)        To monitor methyl bromide emission levels;
(iii)       To determine methyl bromide residue levels in goods, plants and commodities;

(b)        In laboratory toxicological studies;

(c)        To compare the efficacy of methyl bromide and its alternatives inside a laboratory;

(d)        As a laboratory agent which is destroyed in a chemical reaction in the manner of feedstock;”

Recalling decision XXVI/5, which extended the global laboratory and analytical-use exemption until 31 December 2021, under the conditions set out in annex II to the report of the Sixth Meeting of the Parties,

Noting that Annex C, group I, substances (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) are currently not included in the global laboratory and analytical-use exemption,

Noting the 2018 report by the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel, which notes that hydrochlorofluorocarbons will be required for laboratory and analytical uses after 2020,

Taking into account the adjustment agreed on by parties in 2018 to permit essential-use exemptions for hydrochlorofluorocarbons,

To include Annex C, group I, substances in the global laboratory and analytical-use exemption under the same conditions and on the same timeline as set forth in paragraph 1 of decision XXVI/5;

Recalling decisions VII/11 and XXI/6, in which the Meeting of the Parties requested all parties to urge their national standards-setting organizations to identify and review their standards for laboratory and analytical procedures that mandate the use of Montreal Protocol controlled substances with a view to adopting, where possible, laboratory and analytical products and processes that do not use controlled substances,

Recalling also decisions VII/11, XI/15, XVIII/15 and XIX/18, by which the Meeting of the Parties eliminated specific uses from the global exemption for laboratory and analytical uses,

1. To extend the global laboratory and analytical-use exemption until 31 December 2021, under the conditions set out in annex II to the report of the Sixth Meeting of the Parties and decisions XV/8, XVI/16 and XVIII/15, for the controlled substances under the Montreal Protocol in all annexes and groups except Annex C, group 1;

2. To request the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel to report no later than 2018 on the development and availability of laboratory and analytical procedures that can be performed without using controlled substances under the Montreal Protocol;

3. To encourage parties to continue to investigate domestically the possibility of replacing ozone-depleting substances in laboratory and analytical uses and to share the resulting information;

Annex II : Conditions applied to exemption for laboratory and analytical uses

The year is 2065. Nearly two-thirds of Earth's ozone is gone -- not just over the poles, but everywhere. The infamous ozone hole over Antarctica, first discovered in the 1980s, is a year-round fixture, with a twin over the North Pole. The ultraviolet (UV) radiation falling on mid-latitude cities like Washington, D.C., is strong enough to cause sunburn in just five minutes. DNA-mutating UV radiation is up 650 percent, with likely harmful effects on plants, animals and human skin cancer rates. Such is the world we would have inherited if 193 nations had not agreed to ban ozone-depleting substances, according to atmospheric chemists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Bilthoven.

This brochure brings together information on the issue of methyl bromide with respect to its application for quarantine (and pre-shipment) purposes which is an area of mutual concern to both multilateral agreements. It is hoped that the brochure will assist the Parties to both agreements in their endeavour to better understand and address those matters.