Country programmes
104. The Executive Committee decided to take note of the recommendation and the views expressed and requested the Implementing Agencies to bear them in mind in country programme preparation.
[With regard to the issue of base year consumption data of controlled substances, the Executive Committee agreed that Implementing Agencies should be requested to expand the scope of data collection during the country programme preparation to cover the base years for respective ODS.
With regard to the issue of data reporting, the Executive Committee agreed that Implementing Agencies should advise Article 5 Parties to report their data to the Ozone Secretariat as required by Article 7 of the Protocol following completion of the country programmes.
With regard to the issue of projects in country programmes, the Executive Committee agreed that projects that were developed as part of the process of country programme preparation and included in the country programmes for approval by the Executive Committee should first be discussed with the designated Implementing Agency and, where necessary, a technical review obtained from the agency and attached to the project before submission.
With regard to the issue of halon recycling and banking, the Executive Committee recommended that UNEP and UNDP should examine how arrangements could be made for a regional or national approach to such recycling and banking, depending on the specific circumstances of the country involved.
With regard to the issue of retrofitting of refrigeration equipment, the Executive Committee agreed to recommend that countries should be given appropriate advice and training so they could appreciate the implications of a phase-out of ODS in that sector.
With regard to the issue of policy towards funding projects to maintain strategic stocks of ODS, some representatives supported the Secretariat's proposal that Implementing Agencies should discourage, as an ineligible activity under the Fund, the inclusion in country programmes of requests for funding to maintain strategic stocks of ozone depleting substances before those substances were phased out. One representative said that, given the long grace period available to Article 5 countries, it was premature to address the issue of stockpiling, while another considered the local arrangements could be made at low costs to improve management and recycling processes. Another representative, however, expressed the view that if the maintenance of strategic stocks of ODS became an ineligible activity, it would cause great inconvenience to small developing countries, since some essential uses would remain after the phase-out date. In addition, he said that the maintenance of strategic stocks was ac activity that arose from the provisions of the Montreal Protocol, the incremental costs involved should be eligible for funding.]