Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Allocation of Essential Use Allowances for Calendar Year 2003

With this action, EPA is allocating essential use allowances for import and production of class I stratospheric ozone depleting substances (ODSs) for calendar year 2003. Essential use allowances enable a person to obtain controlled class I ODSs as an exemption to the regulatory ban of production and import of these chemicals, which became effective on January 1, 1996. EPA allocates essential use allowances for exempted production or import of a specific quantity of class I ODS solely for the designated essential purpose. Today EPA is finalizing the allocations proposed in the Federal Register on November 6, 2002 (67 FR 67581). These allocations total 3,270 metric tons of chlorofluorocarbons for use in metered dose inhalers, and 13.2 metric tons of methyl chloroform for use in the U.S. Space Shuttle and Titan Rocket programs.