    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 25 (Monday, June 26, 2000)]
    [Pages 1448-1449]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Message to the Senate Transmitting an Amendment to the Montreal Protocol

    June 22, 2000

    To the Senate of the United States:

        I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate to
    ratification, the Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that
    Deplete the Ozone Layer (the ``Montreal Protocol''), adopted at Beijing
    on December 3, 1999, by the Eleventh Meeting of the Parties to the
    Montreal Protocol (the ``Beijing Amendment''). The report of the
    Department of State is also enclosed for the information of the Senate.
        The principal features of the Beijing Amendment, which was
    negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Program,
    are the addition of trade controls on hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs),
    the addition of production controls on HCFCs, the addition of
    bromochloromethane to the substances controlled under the Montreal
    Protocol, and the addition of mandatory reporting requirements on the
    use of methyl bromide for quarantine and preshipment purposes. The
    Beijing Amendment will constitute a major step forward in protecting
    public health and the environment from potential adverse effects of
    stratospheric ozone depletion.

    [[Page 1449]]

        By its terms, the Beijing Amendment will enter into force on January
    1, 2001, provided that at least 20 parties have indicated their consent
    to be bound. The Beijing Amendment provides that no State may become a
    party unless it previously has become (or simultaneously becomes) a
    party to the 1997 Montreal Amendment. The Montreal Amendment is
    currently before the Senate for its advice and consent to ratification
    (Senate Treaty Doc. No. 106-10).
        I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration
    to the Beijing Amendment and give its advice and consent to
    ratification, at the same time as it gives its advice and consent to
    ratification of the Montreal Amendment.
                                                William J. Clinton
     The White House,
     June 22, 2000.