OREANDA-NEWS. March 30, 2009. The contact group of the Regional Ozone Network in Europe and Central Asia conducted the meeting in Ashgabat. The group consisted of the heads of the ozone centers of the ministries of nature protection of Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Turkmenistan. The agenda of the working meetings focused on development of the recommendations to update the laws on the substances that deplete the ozone layer (ODS). The representatives of the Mejlis and the interested ministries, the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation and the international consultants – the UNEP Ozone Action Programme Coordinator, the experts of the UNDP and UNIDO regional offices had been invited to take part in the discussions.

Having become a party to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer and the Amendments to the Montreal Protocol Turkmenistan was an active participant to the United Nations programmes and projects aimed at reducing and ceasing the use of ODS including those implemented at regional level. The important trends in cooperation included developing the legislative regulations to control and ban the use of ODS, licensing the activities in phasing out ODS production, introducing the national customs codes for the substances used as cooling agents, etc.

Spotlighting the ozone problems this forum became another step towards developing multi-aspect legal cooperation particularly to draft the new legislative acts meeting the phase-out schedule to cease production and use of certain ODS. The existing international legal concepts of unwanted ozone depleting substances and the overviews of the national legal practices in this field adopted in the countries of the region were presented to the forum participants.

During the discussions the participants noted that the unified approach to these issues based on the universally recognized principles and international law norms was most acceptable for achieving the goals of global environmental security. The recommendations on the upgrading of the legislation at national and regional levels to comply with the pace of development of trade and economic cooperation among the countries of the region were adopted.

The new educational guidebook for customs officers was presented on the last day of the forum. The e-guidebook would allow customs officers to study the on-the-job course on control and identification of exported ozone depleting substances and equipment containing ODS, to prepare the documentation and receive the relevant certificate.