Noting with appreciation the work done by the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel and its Methyl Bromide Technical Options Committee,

Noting with appreciation that some Parties have made substantial reductions in the quantities of methyl bromide authorized, permitted or licensed for 2006 and have significantly reduced the quantities requested,

Noting that Parties submitting requests for methyl bromide for 2007 have supported their requests with a management strategy as required under decision Ex.I/4,

1. For the agreed critical-use categories for 2007, set forth in table A of the annex to the present decision for each Party, to permit, subject to the conditions set forth in the present decision and decision Ex.I/4 to the extent that those conditions are applicable, the levels of production and consumption for 2007 set forth in table B of the annex to the present decision which are necessary to satisfy critical uses, in addition to the amounts permitted in decision XVII/9;
2. For the agreed critical-use categories for 2008 set forth in table C of the annex to the present decision for each Party to permit, subject to the conditions set forth in the present decision and in decision Ex.I/4, to the extent that those conditions are applicable, the levels of production and consumption for 2008 set forth in table D of the annex to the present decision which are necessary to satisfy critical uses, with the understanding that additional levels of production and consumption and categories of uses may be approved by the Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in accordance with decision IX/6;
3. That when assessing supplemental requests for critical use exemptions for 2008 for a specific nomination, the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel should take into account the most current information, including any information on domestic implementation of related 2007 and 2008 critical uses, in accordance with paragraph 2 of decision IX/6;
4. That a Party with a critical use exemption level in excess of permitted levels of production and consumption for critical uses is to make up any such differences between those levels by using quantities of methyl bromide from stocks that the Party has recognized to be available;
5. That Parties shall endeavour to license, permit, authorize or allocate quantities of critical-use methyl bromide as listed in tables A and C of the annex to the present decision;
6. That each Party which has an agreed critical use renews its commitment to ensure that the criteria in paragraph 1 of decision IX/6 are applied when licensing, permitting or authorizing critical use of methyl bromide and, in particular, the criterion laid down in paragraph 1(b) (ii) of decision IX/6.  Each Party is requested to report on the implementation of the present paragraph to the Ozone Secretariat by 1 February for the years to which this decision applies;
7. To request the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel to publish annually in its progress report beginning in 2007 and prior to each Open-ended Working Group meeting the stocks of methyl bromide held by each nominating Party as reported in its accounting framework report;
8. That Parties licensing, permitting or authorizing methyl bromide that is used for 2008 critical uses shall request the use of emission minimization techniques such as virtually impermeable films, barrier film technologies, deep shank injection and/or other techniques that promote environmental protection, whenever technically and economically feasible;
9. That each Party should continue to ensure that its national management strategy for the phase-out of critical uses of methyl bromide addresses the aims specified in paragraph 3 of decision Ex.I/4.

Annex to decision XVIII/13

Critical-use exemptions for 2007 and 2008

Table A.  2007 agreed critical-use categories (metric tonnes)

Table B: 2007 permitted levels of production and consumption (metric tonnes)

* The production and consumption of the European Community shall not exceed 689.1416 metric tonnes for the purposes of the agreed critical uses.

Table C: 2008 agreed critical-use categories (metric tonnes)

* All or part of the supplementary amount of 1.8 metric tonnes, if required, is conditional on the Technical and Economic Assessment Panel’s recommendation in its 2007 progress report.

Table D: 2008 permitted levels of production and consumption (metric tonnes)

* All or part of the supplementary amount of 1.8 metric tonnes, if required, is conditional on the Technical and Economic Assessment Panel’s recommendation in its 2007 progress report.