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Principal Environmental Protection Officer of the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), Mr Franklin Chung, said only two of the newly added scheduled substances, namely methyl bromide and chlorodifluoromethane (HCFC-22), were consumed in a substantial amount in Hong Kong while there was no record of importation of HBFC.
Noting that methyl bromide was exclusively used by the local pest control industry for quarantine and pre- shipment treatment of cargoes, which were exempted under the Copenhagen Amendment to the Protocol, he said: "Although there is no definite phase-out plan for the substance, its use is closely monitored by the Agriculture and Fisheries Department.
"As for HCFC, which have similar physical and chemical properties of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) but with a far lower ozone depleting potential, they have been considered as an alternative substance to CFC before the phase-out of the latter in December 1995.
"However, given the ozone depleting nature of the HCFC, the Montreal Protocol has agreed to phase-out the substance in the year 2030," Mr Chung said.
Under the Copenhagen Amendment of the Protocol, Hong Kong's local consumption of HCFC in 1996 should be limited to the level in 1989 plus 3.1 per cent of the consumption level of CFC in the same year, both are calculated in weighted quantities.
"To meet this requirement, starting from January 1, 1996, any person who imports HCFC into Hong Kong for local consumption will be subject to a quota control," he said.
HCFC are mainly used as refrigerants, foam blowing agents, propellants in aerosols, carrier gases in sterilant mixture, solvents and cleaning agents in electronics, metal cleaning and dry cleaning industries as well as components of fire extinguishants replacing halons.
Of the 34 types of HCFC to be brought under control, only four are currently used in Hong Kong. They are HCFC-22, -123, -141 and -225, with HCFC-22 constituting 97 per cent of the total retained HCFC imports in Hong Kong during 1993.