Ban on non-CFC free items from 2020
BY SANDUN A. JAYASEKERA
In a bid to protect the Ozone layer and the environment, Sri Lanka will by 2020 ban the import of all machinery and equipment tainted with the Ozone-depleting Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), a minister said yesterday.
At a discussion held at the Environment and Renewable Energy Ministry Minister Susil Premajayantha instructed officials to take measures to ban the import of all machinery and equipment including household items such as air conditioners and refrigerators which are not CFC-free.
Ministry spokesman Thusitha Halloluwa said the banning of non-CFC free equipment, pesticides and cosmetics would be carried out in several stages so that a 100 per cent ban would be in place by 2020.
He said the total ban on such imports was being implemented under conditions agreed by 197 countries including Sri Lanka when ratifying the 1987 Montreal Protocol.
Mr. Halloluwa said that with effect from January 1 last year, Sri Lanka had banned the import and production of machinery and equipment that contain 54 out of the 96 chemicals including the highly harmful CFC, which are identified as Ozone Depleting.
He said the United Nations had decided to hold the Network Meeting of South Asian officials of the Montreal Protocol in Colombo in recognition of Sri Lanka’s positive response to the Montreal Protocol.
The Montreal Protocol was designed to reduce the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances.