Introductory text

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 2037/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 June 2000 on substances that deplete the ozone layer^f1, and in particular the third sentence of the sixteenth indent of Article 2 thereof,

Whereas:

The ozone-depleting substance carbon tetrachloride (CTC) is listed as a controlled substance in Group IV of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 2037/2000 and therefore use restrictions apply under this Regulation.

Taking account of new information and technical developments reported by the Process Agents Task Force of the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer in its progress report dated October 2004^f2, the Parties to the Montreal Protocol adopted Decision XVII/7^f3 at their 17th Meeting in December 2005. More specifically, Decision XVII/7 adds CTC to the revised Table A for Decision X/14 as the processing agent for the production of radio-labelled cyanocobalamin which is a medical drug used for the diagnosis of the likely causes of vitamin B₁₂ deficiency.

At present, the use of CTC as processing agent for the production of radio-labelled cyanocobalamin is banned in the Community under Regulation (EC) No 2037/2000. In order for this particular use to be allowed, in accordance with the abovementioned Decision recently agreed upon under the Montreal Protocol, Annex VI of the Regulation should be amended.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 18(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2037/2000,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: