On May 8^th, Mr. Huang Runqiu, Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), presided over a ministerial executive meeting which approved in principle The Regulation on Administration of Ozone Depleting Substances (Draft Revision). Mr. Sun Jinlong, Secretary of the Leading Party Members Group of MEE, attended the meeting.

The meeting pointed out that China has earnestly implemented the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (hereinafter referred to as the Protocol), enacted and enforced The Regulation on Administration of Ozone Depleting Substances (hereinafter referred to as the Regulation) and other regulations and management policies. Till now, China has phased out over 280,000 tons of ODS, making positive contribution to the protection of ozone layer. In April 2021, President Xi Jinping announced that China had decided to accept the Kigali Amendment to the Protocol and strengthen the control of non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases such as HFCs, so as to open a new chapter in China’s actions in protecting the ozone layer and addressing climate change.

The meeting emphasized that it is necessary to have a deep understanding of the significance of the revision to the Regulation, actively fulfill compliance commitments and continuously improve compliance capabilities. First, the supervision and law enforcement shall be enhanced in a sustained way, illegal behaviors involving controlled substances under the Protocol shall be cracked down seriously, and long-term compliance law enforcement mechanisms shall be established. Second, the construction of the atmospheric background concentration monitoring network of controlled substances should be stepped up to strengthen compliance monitoring and evaluation capabilities. The third is to study and incorporate the implementation of the Kigali Amendment into the overall arrangement of addressing climate change and control emissions of non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases. The fourth is to enhance capacity building, further to constantly improve the policy and standard system and the regulatory measures, to establish a compliance supporting system that is suitable for China’s role as a major compliance party of the Protocol.