HC Deb 14 July 1992 vol 211 cc633-4W
Mr. Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals Her Majesty's Government are putting forward at the current discussions at the United Nations in Geneva to tighten the Montreal protocol on substances damaging to the ozone layer.

Mr. Dafis

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to press for a specific target date for the introduction of HCFCs to be included within the Montreal protocol at the forthcoming conference on the revising of the Montreal protocol in Geneva.

Mr. Maclean

The United Kingdom, together with the EC, is proposing that the phase out dates in the Montreal protocol be brought forward to the end of 1995. This is an advance on the current phase out schedules of four years for CFCs, halons and carbon tetrachloride and nine years for 1,1,1 trichloroethane. We are also proposing that HCFCs should be included in the protocol with strict controls on their areas of use, a quantitative limit on their total consumption and a final phase out date. The details of the controls will be decided by the parties during the review of the protocol in November.