[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.