Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer

Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer

Signed	22 March 1985
Location	Vienna
Effective	22 September 1988
Condition	ratification by 20 states
Signatories	28
Ratifiers	197
Depositary	Secretary-General of the United Nations
Languages	Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish

The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer is a Multilateral Environmental Agreement. It was agreed upon at the Vienna Conference of 1985 and entered into force in 1988. In terms of universality, it is one of the most successful treaties of all time, having been ratified by 197 states (all United Nations members as well as the Holy See, Niue and the Cook Islands) as well as the European Union.

It acts as a framework for the international efforts to protect the ozone layer. However, it does not include legally binding reduction goals for the use of CFCs, the main chemical agents causing ozone depletion. These are laid out in the accompanying Montreal Protocol.

External links

• The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer at The Ozone Secretariat at the United Nations Environment Programme
• UNEP: The Ozone Secretariat website
• Ratifications
• Treaty text
• Introductory note by Edith Brown Weiss, procedural history note and audiovisual material on the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer in the Historic Archives of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
• Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, Treaty available in ECOLEX-the gateway to environmental law (English)