Decision 68/39

Following the discussions, the convenor of the contact group, advised that following consultation with the representatives of the Government of Thailand, consensus was reached on a reduced budget for the RAC component, additional language to the decision and minor changes to the Agreement to support the introduction of lower GWP alternatives. In addition, based on the contact group’s suggestions, the Executive Committee decided:

1. To approve, in principle, stage I of the HCFC phase-out management plan (HPMP) for Thailand for the period 2012 to 2018 to reduce HCFC consumption by 15 per cent of the baseline, at the amount of US $24,683,857, consisting of US $22,749,072, plus agency support costs of US $1,592,435 for the World Bank, and US $302,965, plus agency support costs of US $39,385 for the Government of Japan;
2. To note that the Government of Thailand had agreed to establish as its starting point for sustained aggregate reduction in HCFC consumption the baseline of 927.6 ODP tonnes, calculated using actual consumption of 826.6 ODP tonnes and 1,028.5 ODP tonnes reported for 2009 and 2010, respectively, under Article 7 of the Montreal Protocol, plus 15.68 ODP tonnes of HCFC-141b contained in imported pre-blended polyols, resulting in 943.28 ODP tonnes;
3. To note the commitment of the Government of Thailand to ban imports of HCFC-141b, both pure and contained in pre-blended polyols, no later than 1 January 2016, except for spray foam applications;
4. In relation to a planned ban on the use of HCFC-22 in the manufacture of air‑conditioning equipment and imports of HCFC-22-based air-conditioning equipment with cooling capacity under 50,000 BTU (14.5 kW) by 1 January 2017 for the Thai market and a ban on the sales of HCFC-22 based air-conditioning units in the Thai market by 31 December 2017:
   1. To note the commitment of the Government of Thailand to enact relevant legislation or regulations; and
   2. Not to allow submission of a second or later tranche for stage II of the HPMP until the Government of Thailand confirmed the enactment of such legislation or regulations as part of the tranche submission;
5. To note the commitment of the Government of Thailand to make available, for the purpose of monitoring, the consumption of 12 air-conditioning manufacturers included in stage I of the HPMP in the years 2015 to 2017, and in addition any other information to be collected to verify the country’s consumption, the records of import quotas issued within each calendar year, and reports listing names of customers of each individual importer, which would be filed by the respective importers as part of their requirements under the licensing and import quota system;
6. To include in the annual verification follow-up visits to those air-conditioning manufacturers which had completed their conversion to ensure that they had ceased production of HCFC-22 air-conditioning units;
7. To note that the Government of Thailand had agreed to encourage reduction of emissions of HCFCs in the servicing sector;
8. To note the activities of the Government of Thailand to promote, as part of its HPMP, technologies in the air-conditioning sector with global-warming potential (GWP) lower than those replaced with a view to encouraging air-conditioning manufacturers in the country choosing to convert to HFC technologies to select such alternatives with a GWP lower than the HCFCs they replaced;
9. To request the World Bank to ensure, through relevant formulated contracts, that funds for compressor development foreseen in the technical assistance component of the HPMP would, as a minimum, lead to the production of prototypes and their delivery to refrigeration equipment manufacturers for testing;
10. To deduct 234.72 ODP tonnes of HCFCs from the starting point for sustained aggregate reduction in HCFC consumption;
11. To note that the Government of Thailand would be allowed to submit a proposal for stage II of the HPMP after 2015;
12. To approve the draft Agreement between the Government of Thailand and the Executive Committee for the reduction in consumption of HCFCs, as contained in Annex XXIII to the present report; and
13. To approve the first tranche of stage I of the HPMP for Thailand, and the corresponding tranche implementation plans, at the amount of US $5,496,718, consisting of US $4,817,166, plus agency support costs of US $337,202 for the World Bank, and US $302,965, plus agency support costs of US $39,385 for the Government of Japan.