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CURRENT NEWS ON OZONE DEPLETING SUBSTANCES IN ONTARIO

ALL MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS WITH RESPECT TO ODS WILL BE POSTED ON THIS SITE.

March 2003

The Ontario government is proposing regulatory changes to further protect the Earth's ozone layer.

The proposed changes establish dates on which owners of industrial / commercial / institutional refrigerators, air conditioners and some specialty fire extinguishing systems would be prohibited from refilling these appliances with refrigerants/fire suppressants that are harmful to the Earth's ozone layer.

• Ontario Regulation 189/94 - Refrigerants (proposal)
• Ontario Regulation 413/94 - Halon Fire Extinguishing Equipment (proposal)

The proposals were posted on the Environmental Registry March 10, 2003 for a 30-day public comment period.

July 2001

The Ministry of the Environment recently filed amendments to Ontario's Refrigerants Regulation (O.Reg. 189/94) and Solvents Regulation (O.Reg. 717/94).

O.Reg 189/94 - Refrigerants

Amendments to the Refrigerants Regulation were filed addressing issues in the following areas:

• Technician certification;
• enhancement of the enforceability of the regulation;
• standards of technical practice; and
• refill of old technology (CFC-containing) mobile air conditioning systems.

Specifically, the ministry has:

• confirmed the existing certification program (commonly known as Ozone Depletion Prevention [ODP] Cards) consisting of initial training and regular re-certification of every technician who has a valid reason to use refrigerants. The amended regulation allows for the extension of the expiry dates of current ODP Cards to phase-in the process of re-certification.

  As of July 1, 2001, depending on the individual's last name, the ODP card will expire:

  Last Name	Date by which you must re-certify your ODP Card
  A-G	December 31, 2002
  H-P	December 31, 2003
  Q-Z	December 31, 2004

  Prior to the new expiry date, technicians must write an examination and will be issued a certificate valid for 3 years.

• enhanced the enforceability of the regulation by clarifying the definitions of refrigerant and wholesaler and by removing two outdated provisions.
• prohibited the refill of old-technology (CFC-containing) mobile air conditioners with chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)-based refrigerants after January 1, 2002.
• introduced standards of practice. All technicians must follow technical practices outlined in the Environmental Code of Practice for the Elimination of Fluorocarbon Emissions from Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Systems for leak test procedures and must report any refrigerant releases of 100 kg or greater to the Ministry of the Environment Spills Action Centre (1-800-268-6060).

In addition to this reporting requirement, technicians who hold ODP cards are now required to keep records of use. These records must contain:

• All amounts and types of refrigerant purchased or obtained for the purpose of servicing or testing equipment;
• the amount of and explanation for any discharge of a refrigerant, whether or not it occurs in the course of servicing or testing equipment;
• the date of any work done servicing or testing equipment, the name of the company doing the work and the name of the individual doing the work; and
• a description of the work done, the amount and type of refrigerant used in the work, the type of refrigerant recaptured in the course of the work and an estimate of the amount of refrigerant recaptured in the course of the work.

These records would be kept by each technician for a minimum of two years and must be made available to ministry staff upon request.

O.Reg. 717/94 - Solvents

The amended regulation defers the phase-out of one Class II solvent (known as AK 225) until December 31, 2008. All other Class II solvents were banned effective July 1, 2001. In addition, the Ministry of the Environment now requires users of this solvent to submit annual reports on efforts to reduce emissions of the solvent.

Copies of the amended regulations are available in the ‘Treaties, Statutes and Regulations'

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