(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.

[63 FR 11096, Mar. 5, 1998, as amended at 85 FR 15300, Mar. 17, 2020]