Restrictions on Importing and Trade in ODS
International trade in ODS is restricted to countries that have ratified the Montreal Protocol and its amendments.
Mexican companies may trade HCFCs with countries specified in Articles 2 and 5 of the Montreal Protocol, since the obligation to begin prohibiting this trade does not enter into force until 2016. Beginning in that year, trade in HCFCs may only occur if countries have ratified the Copenhagen and Beijing amendments.
In Mexico the commitments to totally phase out consumption of ODS are by the year 2010 for CFCs and halons, by 2015 for methyl bromide, and by 2040 for HCFCs.
As of 27 March 2007, when the "Agreement through which the general public is informed of the schedule for reducing the consumption of and inventories of chlorofluorocarbons in Mexico" entered into force, the Secretariat of Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries will authorize the importing of CFCs only when such authorizations do not exceed the limits established in the reduction schedule in that Agreement for the maximum allowable consumption and the maximum limit on stored amounts for meeting basic domestic needs.
It is important to remember that the calculation of the consumption of an ODS for each country is obtained according to the following formula:
C = I + P – E
Where:
C = Country's consumption of the ODS
I = Importing of the ODS
P = Production of the ODS
E = Exporting of the ODS
In order to control the trade of ODS in Mexico, a system of corresponding authorizations has been implemented. Thus, all import and export operations involving ODS must be previously authorized by Semarnat and the Secretariat of Health, and approved by the Secretariat of the Treasury and Public Credit through Customs, and the corresponding quotas must also be obtained.
