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1. The placing on the market of hydrofluorocarbons shall be allowed only to the extent that producers and importers have been allocated quota by the Commission as set out in Article 17. Producers and importers placing hydrofluorocarbons on the market shall not exceed the quota available to them at the moment of placing on the market.

2. Paragraph 1 shall not apply to hydrofluorocarbons that are:

(a) imported into the Union for destruction;

(b) used by a producer as feedstock or supplied directly by a producer or an importer to undertakings for use as feedstock;

(c) supplied directly by a producer or an importer to undertakings for export out of the Union, not contained in products or equipment, where those hydrofluorocarbons are not subsequently made available to any other person within the Union, prior to export;

(d) supplied directly by a producer or an importer for use in military equipment;

(e) supplied directly by a producer or an importer to an undertaking using it for the etching of semiconductor material or the cleaning of chemicals vapour deposition chambers within the semiconductor manufacturing sector.

3. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 32 to amend paragraph 2 and exclude from the quota requirement laid down in paragraph 1 hydrofluorocarbons in accordance with decisions of the Parties to the Protocol.

4. Following a substantiated request by a competent authority of a Member State and taking into account the objectives of this Regulation, and in light of any data provided by the European Medicines Agency, the Commission may, exceptionally, by means of implementing acts, authorise an exemption for up to 4 years to exclude from the quota requirement laid down in paragraph 1 hydrofluorocarbons for use in specific applications, or specific categories of products or equipment, where it is demonstrated in the request that:

(a) for those particular applications, products or equipment, alternatives are not available, or cannot be used for technical or safety reasons or risks to public health; and (b) a sufficient supply of hydrofluorocarbons cannot be ensured without entailing disproportionate costs. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 34(2).

5. The emission of hydrofluorocarbons during production shall be considered as being placed on the market the year in which they occur.

6. This Article and Articles 17, 20 to 29 and 31 shall also apply to hydrofluorocarbons contained in pre-blended polyols.