(a) The purpose of this subpart is to reduce the emissions of halon in accordance with section 608 of the Clean Air Act by banning the manufacture of halon blends; banning the intentional release of halons during repair, testing, and disposal of equipment containing halons and during technician training; requiring organizations that employ technicians to provide emissions reduction training; and requiring proper disposal of halons and equipment containing halons.

(b) This subpart applies to any person testing, servicing, maintaining, repairing or disposing of equipment that contains halons or using such equipment during technician training. This subpart also applies to any person disposing of halons; to manufacturers of halon blends; and to organizations that employ technicians who service halon-containing equipment.

Halon-containing equipment means equipment used to store, transfer, and/or disperse halon.

Disposal of halon means the process leading to and including discarding of halon from halon-containing equipment.

Disposal of halon-containing equipment means the process leading to and including:

(1) The discharge, deposit, dumping or placing of any discarded halon-containing equipment into or on any land or water;

(2) The disassembly of any halon-containing equipment for discharge, deposit, or dumping or placing of its discarded component parts into or on any land or water; or

(3) The disassembly of any halon-containing equipment for reuse of its component parts.

Halon means any of the Class I, Group II substances listed in subpart A, appendix A of 40 CFR part 82. This group consists of the three halogenated hydrocarbons known as Halon 1211, Halon 1301, and Halon 2402, and all isomers of these chemicals.

Halon product means any mixture or combination of substances that contains only one halon (e.g., Halon 1301 plus dinitrogen gas (N2))

Halon blend means any mixture or combination of substances that contains two or more halons.

Manufacturer means any person engaged in the direct manufacture of halon, halon blends or halon-containing equipment.

Person means any individual or legal entity, including an individual, corporation, partnership, association, state, municipality, political subdivision of a state, Indian tribe, and any agency, department, or instrumentality of the United States, and any officer, agent, or employee thereof.

Technician means any person who performs testing, maintenance, service, or repair that could reasonably be expected to release halons from equipment into the atmosphere. Technician also means any person who performs disposal of equipment that could reasonably be expected to release halons from the equipment into the atmosphere. Technician includes but is not limited to installers, contractor employees, in-house service personnel, and in some cases, owners.

(a) Effective April 6, 1998 no person may newly manufacture any halon blend. Halon blends manufactured solely for the purpose of aviation fire protection are not subject to this prohibition, provided that:

(1) The manufacturer or its designee is capable of recycling the blend to the relevant industry standards for the chemical purity of each individual halon;

(2) The manufacturer includes in all sales contracts for blends produced by it on or after April 6, 1998 the provision that the blend must be returned to it or its designee for recycling; and

(3) The manufacturer or its designee in fact recycles blends produced by the manufacturer on or after April 6, 1998 and returned to it for recycling to the relevant industry standards for the chemical purity of each individual halon.

(b) Effective April 6, 1998, no person testing, maintaining, servicing, repairing, or disposing of halon-containing equipment or using such equipment for technician training may knowingly vent or otherwise release into the environment any halons used in such equipment.

(1) De minimis releases associated with good faith attempts to recycle or recover halon are not subject to this prohibition.

(2) Release of residual halon contained in fully discharged total flooding fire extinguishing systems would be considered a de minimis release associated with good faith attempts to recycle or recover halon.

(3) Release of halons during testing of fire extinguishing systems is not subject to this prohibition if the following four conditions are met:

(i) Systems or equipment employing suitable alternative fire extinguishing agents are not available;

(ii) System or equipment testing requiring release of extinguishing agent is essential to demonstrate system or equipment functionality;

(iii) Failure of the system or equipment would pose great risk to human safety or the environment; and

(iv) A simulant agent cannot be used in place of the halon during system or equipment testing for technical reasons.

(4) Releases of halons associated with research and development of halon alternatives, and releases of halons necessary during analytical determination of halon purity using established laboratory practices are exempt from this prohibition.

(5) This prohibition does not apply to qualification and development testing during the design and development process of halon-containing systems or equipment when such tests are essential to demonstrate system or equipment functionality and when a suitable simulant agent can not be used in place of the halon for technical reasons.

(6) This prohibition does not apply to the emergency release of halons for the legitimate purpose of fire extinguishing, explosion inertion, or other emergency applications for which the equipment or systems were designed.

(c) Effective April 6, 1998, organizations that employ technicians who test, maintain, service, repair or dispose of halon-containing equipment shall take appropriate steps to ensure that technicians hired on or before April 6, 1998 will be trained regarding halon emissions reduction by September 1, 1998. Technicians hired after April 6, 1998 shall be trained regarding halon emissions reduction within 30 days of hiring, or by September 1, 1998, whichever is later.

(d) Effective April 6, 1998, no person shall dispose of halon-containing equipment except by sending it for halon recovery to a manufacturer operating in accordance with NFPA 10 and NFPA 12A standards, a fire equipment dealer operating in accordance with NFPA 10 and NFPA 12A standards or a recycler operating in accordance with NFPA 10 and NFPA 12A standards. This provision does not apply to ancillary system devices such as electrical detection control components which are not necessary to the safe and secure containment of the halon within the equipment, to fully discharged total flooding systems, or to equipment containing only de minimis quantities of halons.

(e) No person shall dispose of halon except by sending it for recycling to a recycler operating in accordance with NFPA 10 and NFPA 12A standards, or by arranging for its destruction using one of the controlled processes approved by the Parties and listed in the definition of destruction in § 82.3.

(f) Effective April 6, 1998, no owner of halon-containing equipment shall allow halon release to occur as a result of failure to maintain such equipment.