Download this Fax of HCFC Workshop Announcement in PDF Format.

Dear Mr./Ms. ...

We are pleased to inform you that the Swiss Agency for Environment, Forests and Landscape (SAEFL), in cooperation with the European Commission (DG XI) is organising a workshop on alternatives to HCFCs in Geneva on 13 June. This workshop shall demonstrate the progress made in technically and economically feasible alternatives to HCFCs in the main use sectors.

Switzerland and the European Community are actively supporting the phase out not only of CFCs but also of HCFCs, which are controlled ozone-depleting substances under the Montreal Protocol, albeit with a lower ODP than CFCs. Article 2F (7) of the Protocol is intended to restrict the use of HCFCs to applications where no more environmentally suitable alternative is available, taking into account the economic feasibility of the alternative. Currently the consumption of HCFCs is increasing in developing countries and remains at a high level in developed countries, despite an abundance of technically and economically feasible alternatives now available.

Conversion from CFCs to HCFCs and the use of HCFC technologies for new investments should be limited to applications where non-ODS alternatives are not available. Switzerland, in close cooperation with Member States of the European Community, is therefore trying to discourage as far as possible the use of HCFCs as transitional replacement of CFCs where other more environmentally friendly alternative technologies are available.

The workshop will provide up-to-date and useful information for policy makers from both Article 5 and non-Article 5 country delegations, staff of the implementing agencies, NGOs, industry representatives and all those with an interest in protecting the ozone layer.

The aims of the workshop are to clarify that:

• technically and economically feasible alternatives to HCFCs are now available in most applications within the two major HCFC-using sectors (Refrigeration and foams);
• there is scope to tighten current HCFC controls under the Montreal Protocol

The information available at the Workshop will be relevant to discussions on strengthening HCFC control at the 11^th meeting of the Parties, which should take place from a position of accurate knowledge about the alternatives.

We are pleased to invite you, on behalf of the Swiss government (SAEFL) and the European Commission to participate in this workshop. Please see Annex 1 for the draft workshop program.

If you would like to participate in the Workshop held on June 13, 1999 please fill in the attached Workshop Registration form (Annex 2) and fax it back to INFRAS, Consulting Group for Policy Analysis and Implementation (who coordinates the workshop) as soon as possible, but no later than May 13, 1999. The fax number is ++41 1 205 95 99.