With this action, EPA is allocating essential-use allowances for the 1999 control period. The United States nominated specific uses of controlled ozone-depleting substances (ODS) as essential for 1999 under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (Protocol). The Parties to the Protocol subsequently authorized specific quantities of ODS for 1999 for the uses nominated by the United States. Essential-use allowances permit a person to obtain controlled ozone-depleting substances as an exemption to the January 1, 1996 regulatory phaseout of production and import. Essential-use allowances are allocated to a person for exempted production or importation of a specific quantity of a controlled substance solely for the designated essential purpose.