Other Regulatory Information
Methyl bromide is a powerful ozone-depleting substance. At the international level, the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (Protocol) established a freeze in the level of methyl bromide production and consumption for industrialized countries at the1992 Meeting in Copenhagen. As a result, in the U.S., the production and import of methyl bromide decreased gradually starting in 1999 and the phaseout took effect on January 1, 2005, except for allowable exemption programs for critical uses and quarantine and preshipment uses.
U.S. National Management Strategy
U.S. National Management Strategy (PDF) (56 pp, 319 KB). The Department of State submitted a National Management Strategy to the Ozone Secretariat on December 1, 2005, for each sector that has requested a critical use exemption.
Accomplishments and Remaining Challenges
EPA presented a poster outlining accomplishments and remaining challenges for the phaseout of methyl bromide (1 p, 1.6 MB) at the 2009 Methyl Bromide Alternatives Outreach conference.
EPA tracks the quantity of methyl bromide that was produced prior to the 2005 phaseout and posts the amounts here annually. The latest sggregate methyl bromide inventory data is for December 31, 2013.
|Year||Amount of Inventory at the End of the Year
Methyl Bromide Revised Phaseout Schedule
- Direct Final Rule (November 28, 2000; 65 FR 70795) (10 pp, 295 KB)
- Final Rule (December 20, 1994; 59 FR 65478)
Methyl Bromide & HBFC Production & Consumption Allowances
This rule established the original baseline production and consumption allowances for the phaseout of methyl bromide.
- Final Rule (December 30, 1993; 58 FR 69235)
Incorporation of Montreal Protocol Adjustments
This rule revised the accelerated phaseout of the regulations that govern the production, import, transformation, and destruction of ozone-depleting substances, including methyl bromide.
- Final Rule (June 1, 1999; 64 FR 29240) (6 pp, 170 KB)
Continued Production of Methyl Bromide for Export to Developing Countries
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer provides a different phaseout schedule for developing countries (countries that operate under Article V of the Protocol) that culminates in a complete phaseout starting on January 1, 2015. Currently, developing countries are on a gradual phase-down schedule. However, until the phaseout for developing countries is completed, existing production facilities in industrialized countries can supply methyl bromide to developing countries, thereby decreasing incentives for construction of new plants in those countries. The Protocol allows industrialized countries to produce limited, additional methyl bromide explicitly for export to developing countries during and after the phaseout in the industrialized countries.
This action established production allowances for export to developing countries before January 1, 2005.
- Direct Final Rule (April 29, 2002; 67 FR 21129) (5 pp, 174 KB)