In view of the above* considerations, the Executive Committee decided:
(a) To encourage Article 5 countries to take advantage of the opportunity of updating the country programmes to prepare the national strategy for complying with the Montreal Protocol obligations;
(b) To provide funding for national efforts in updating the country programme. Taking into consideration Decision 31/48 of the Executive Committee on funding of refrigerant management plans, funding of country programme update should be linked with the funding of RMPs. Specifically:
(i) in countries where the remaining controlled substance consumed is confined to CFC refrigeration servicing and the RMP has been funded, updating the country programme/RMP should be accomplished by the countries concerned when requesting the additional funding of 50 per cent of their original RMP funding level. Funding should be provided to enable countries to undertake this exercise;
(ii) in countries where the preparation of the RMP or a strategy for the refrigeration sector has been funded and is under way, supplementary funding for country programme update should cover CFC consumption in other sectors and controlled substances other than CFCs;
(iii) in countries where the RMP has yet to be prepared, funding of country programme update should be combined with the preparation of the RMP.
(c) To request that country programme updating be completed within 12 months, on average, from the time that funding is approved by the Executive Committee;
(d) To encourage Article 5 countries to take advantage of the opportunity of updating the country programme to develop performance-based sector-wide or substance wide phase-out agreements;
(e) To adopt the Format for Country Programme Update included in Annex XVII to the present report, which could be augmented by countries according to their strategic planning needs;
(f) To invite implementing agencies, in finalizing their 2002 business plans, to incorporate to the extent possible, requests for assistance for those Article 5 countries seeking to prepare country programme updates at this time.