The Government of India acceded to the Montreal Protocol along with its London Amendments on 19.6.92 and it came into force from 17.9.92. The Government has not acceded to the Copenhagen Amendments. The Country Programme (CP) for phasing out of ODS submitted by Government of India was approved by the Executive Committee in its 11th meeting in November 1993. Country Programme (CP) was prepared with active involvement of industry, industry association, Government departments, research laboratories and other institutes. Action Plan has been drawn in CP for phase-out of ODS in country. The activities listed in the action programme are investment projects, information dissemination, study of small sector, incentives, ecomark, use restrictions, legislation, etc. The phase out of ODS will be through various non-ODS technology projects submitted by industries consuming or production enterprises..

The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India has set up an Ozone Cell which is a focal point for coordinating with the industry and provide necessary support to the Steering Committee and its three Standing Committees. The Ozone Cell has organized workshops for projects preparation. So far, a number of projects have been submitted by different enterprises to the Ozone Cell for grants from Multilateral Fund. As on March 1994, 22 projects have been approved by the Executive Committee of Multilateral Fund. The implementation of the projects will be initially monitored by the financial intermediary (IDBI) till their completion. To monitor the phase out of ozone depleting substance resulting from these projects, a Monitoring Standing Committee headed by the Chairman; Central Pollution Control Board has been set up. The Monitoring Committee also helps the ozone Cell in collection and analysis of data relating to annual production, import and export of ODS.

The project proposals received by the Ozone Cell of the Ministry of Environment & Forests, which is located at India Habitat Centre, zone IV, East Court, 2nd floor, Lodi Road, New Delhi - 110 003. The proposals are reviewed by the Technology and finance Committee and on approval of the Steering Committee, these projects are submitted to the Implementing agency for forwarding it to Multilateral Fund Executive Committee.

As per Montreal Protocol commitment, India also has to report data on ODS consumption of production import & export of ODS every year. To streamline the process of data collection, as recommended by the Monitoring Committee, a notification under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 will be issued by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India whereby the concerned organizations/enterprises in the country will be directed to furnish the relevant data on a regular basis is prescribed formats.

LIST OF SOME INDIAN PROJECTS APPROVED BY THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE MULTILATERAL FUND OF THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL (as on March, 1994)