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In Decision XI/28, the 11th Meeting of the Parties requested the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel to study and report by 30 April 2003 at the latest on the problems and options of Article 5(1) Parties in obtaining HCFCs in the light of the freeze on the production of HCFCs in non-Article 5(1) Parties in the year 2004. This report should analyse whether HCFCs are available to Article 5(1) Parties in sufficient quantity and quality and at affordable prices, taking into account the 15 per cent allowance to meet the basic domestic needs of the Article 5(1) Parties and the surplus quantities available from the consumption limit allowed to the non-Article 5(1) Parties. Parties would consider this report at their 15th Meeting in the year 2003. The TEAP established a Task Force to prepare the report on the availability of HCFCs to Article 5(1) countries, in consultation with the full TEAP membership. The Task Force consisted of 17 full members and 2 consulting members; it met a number of times to discuss the drafts of the report in the period February-April 2003. This Executive Summary explains the conclusions reached in the report (shown in italics) and provides a summary of the considerations made to reach these conclusions. More detailed information is provided in the body of the report.

Dioxins and furans, more precisely polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF) are two of the twelve Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) covered by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). PC'DD PCDF. together with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) are listed in Annex C of the Stockholm Convention POPs: they are unintentionally generated and are commonly named "by-products". All POPs listed in Annex C require "continuing minimization and. where feasible, ultimate elimination*' (Stockholm Convention 2001). Paragraph (a) of Article 5 within the Convention requires the development and implementation of an action plan to "identify, characterize and address the releases of the chemicals listed in Annex C" and sub-paragraph (i) specifies that the action plan shall include "the development and maintenance of source inventories and release estimates".

Human activities are releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is produced when fossil fuels are used to generate energy and when forests are cut down and burned. Methane and nitrous oxide are emitted from agricultural activities, changes in land use, and other sources. Artificial chemicals called halocarbons [CCFCs, HFCs, PFCs] and other long-lived gases such as sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) are released by industrial processes. Ozone in the lower atmosphere is generated indirectly by automobile exhaust fumes and other sources.