Allowances
Allowances for Class I and II Controlled Substances
For the phase-out of Class I and Class II controlled substances, the US EPA controls production and consumption by issuing production and consumption (i.e. import ) rights, known as "allowances." In developing the Allowance Programs, the US EPA collects information on the amounts of ODS produced, imported, exported, transformed and destroyed within the United States for specific baseline years for specific chemicals. This information is used to establish the US production and consumption ceilings for these chemicals. The data are also used to assign company-specific production and import allowances to companies that were in most cases producing or importing during the specific year of data collection.
An allowance is a unit of measure equal to one kilogram of a specific ozone-depleting substance (ODS). There are two types of allowances:
- Consumption Allowances: The privileges granted to produce and import controlled substances. Consumption allowances may be used to produce controlled substances only in conjunction with production allowances.
- Production Allowances: The privileges granted to produce controlled substances. Production allowances may be used to produce controlled substances only in conjunction with consumption allowances.
As ODS are phased out, the quantities of allowances granted to companies gradually are reduced and eventually are eliminated. Production allowances and consumption allowances no longer exist for any Class I ODS. Conversely, as Class II ODS phase-outs are underway, the US EPA is in the beginning stages of allocating Class II allowances, starting with allocating allowances for HCFC-22, HCFC-141b, and HCFC-142b in 2003. To view the US EPA's final rule, click here.
