This primer is intended to provide members of the Implementation Committee, particularly new members, with a comprehensive understanding of the non-compliance procedure of the Montreal Protocol and the manner in which the Committee has operated over more than 15 years. In that regard, it is important to note that the non-compliance procedure adopted by the Parties consists of only 16 paragraphs and that, like any institution, the Implementation Committee has developed over the course of its existence a mode of efficient operation that, while firmly based on the non-compliance procedure, relies to a considerable extent on custom and precedent.

The 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is a landmark agreement that has successfully reduced the global production, consumption, and emissions of ozone-depleting substances (ODSs). ODSs are also greenhouse gases that contribute to the radiative forcing of climate change.

The Handbook contains four sections: (1) an outline of the critical-use process, (2) suggested forms and notes for the submission of critical-use nominations, (3) reporting accounting framework and (4) appendices. The appendices contain provisions of the Montreal Protocol relating to critical-use exemptions for methyl bromide, relevant decisions of the Parties to the Protocol, and extracts from meeting reports of the Parties relevant to critical uses.

The Executive Summary contains key summaries from the Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2006, prepared during 2005-2006 by the Scientific Assessment Panel of the U.N. Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

Since 1991 the publication of the Handbook for the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987) has proved to be a valuable reference source for the decisions the Parties have made in the process of developing the ozone regime. The Handbook itself is published in response to the Parties’ decision (made in 1990) requesting the Secretariat to publish and update regularly a Handbook, setting out the Protocol, as adjusted and amended, together with the decisions of the Parties and other relevant material.

This report summarizes data on production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances as of 31 October 2005, reported by the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer under Article 7 of the Protocol.

The Handbook describes the nomination process for essential use exemptions as it has evolved through Articles of the Protocol and Decisions of the Parties; the procedures followed under the Protocol; and the experience of the Panel and its Technical Options Committees in managing the process to date. The Handbook contains three sections: review of the essential use process; instructions for the completion of essential use nominations; and appendices. The appendices contain provisions of the Montreal Protocol, decisions of the Parties to the Protocol and an essential use nomination form.

The conclusion in 1985 of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, followed in 1987 by the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, were the starting points of global cooperation for the protection of the Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer. The six meetings held by the Parties to the Vienna Convention, and the fourteen meetings held by the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, since then have led to many decisions designed to implement the objectives of the Convention and Protocol, all of which are reflected in this Handbook for the International Treaties for the Protection of the Ozone Layer.