Introduction

The Protocol, along with the Vienna Convention, achieved universal participation on 16 September 2009 – the first treaties of any kind in the history of the United Nations system to achieve that aspiration.

The online edition is updated on a regular basis to include relevant information from 1989 to date.

• Section 1 contains the text of the Montreal Protocol and a summary guide to its control measures. The section has been updated to include the Kigali Amendment to the Protocol. According to this Amendment, a new group of chemicals, the hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), are to be phased down.
• Section 2 contains the decisions of the Meetings of the Parties and is updated regularly to incorporate decisions adopted by Meetings of the Parties each year.
• Section 3, which is also updated regularly, presents information from the relevant annexes to the decisions. These include destruction procedures for ozone-depleting substances, essential-use exemptions and critical-use exemptions for methyl bromide, the terms of reference of the assessment panels, the non-compliance procedure of the Protocol, the Multilateral Fund, financial issues and declarations by the parties.
• Section 4 contains information on the rules of procedure.
• Section 5 contains information on the evolution of the Montreal Protocol. This valuable historical information on the original 1987 Montreal Protocol and the separate adjustments and amendments to the Protocol that were adopted by the Meetings of the Parties in 1990, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2007, 2016 and 2018 is of interest in demonstrating how the ozone regime has evolved over time in line with evolving scientific knowledge and technological developments.

Complementary to this edition is the online version of the Handbook for the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer.