Following the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole in late 1985, governments recognized the need for stronger measures to reduce the production and con

Any country or regional organization is considered a Party to the Vienna Convention or Montreal Protocol or one of its amendments, only after ninety days following the date of depositing the ratification / accession / acceptance / approval instrument, to the UN Headquarter for new Parties after the treaty enters into force.

The Vienna Convention set an important precedent. For the first time nations agreed in principle to tackle a global environmental problem before its effects were felt, or even scientifically proven.

Developing country parties to the Montreal Protocol whose annual per capita consumption and production of ozone depleting substances (ODS) is less than 0.3 kg to comply with the control measures of the Protocol, are referred to as Article 5 countries. (Consumption = production + import – export). Currently, 129 of the 184 Parties to the Montreal Protocol meet these criteria.

Most Article 5 countries are eligible to receive technical and financial assistance from the Multilateral Fund Secretariat, as per Article 10 of the Protocol.

Parties to the Montreal Protocol, whose annual calculated level of consumption of the controlled substances is above 0.5 kilograms per capita, are referred to as Article 2 countries.

The Meeting of the parties to the Montreal Protocol is in effect the agreement’s governing body.

The Meeting of the Parties:

• Receives and considers reports from the Protocol’s Science, Environmental Effects, and Technology and Economics Assessment Panels, set up to consider the latest state of zone sciences and technology so that the parties’ decisions can be properly informed.
• Agrees any amendments and adjustments to the Protocol’s text, including adjustments to the phase-out schedules for ozone-depleting substances, and new components of the Protocol.
• Elects officers and committees, including the Bureau (which steers the meetings), Implementation Committee (to monitor compliance) and Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund.
• Agrees the budget of the Ozone Secretariat and in general approves its activities.
• Agrees the three-yearly replenishments of the Multilateral Fund.
• Adopts decisions, which put into effect all the functions listed above, implement the Protocol’s compliance system, clarify the meaning of terms in the Protocol’s text, encourage parties to carry out various actions, set up review groups and commission reports, agree venues for future meetings, and so on.

The Meeting of the Parties takes place annually, and is open to any party that has ratified the Protocol; in practice, the majority of them attend regularly (developing countries’ delegations are given financial assistance to attend). The Protocol’s Open-Ended Working Group (which is just like the meeting of the parties, but is normally shorter, and does not take decisions, it simply refers issues on to the meeting) meets about three or four months before the meeting to hold preliminary discussions on the agenda and the major items for debate, to help ensure that the main meeting runs smoothly.

From the point of view of the Multilateral Fund, the meeting of the parties is a highly important body. Originally, of course, it agreed to establish the Fund and set the basic outline of the way in which it works. Now it chooses the members of the Executive Committee, and receives regular reports from it, agrees the Fund replenishments, and the contributions requested from each party. Before each replenishment it now normally commissions and discusses a review of likely needs for funding, and it has also conducted reviews of other issues, such as the fixed exchange-rate system.