Officials from more than 100 countries took steps last week during a high-level conference in Sri Lanka to guide international efforts for phasing out chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone-depleting substances under the 1987 Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer. During the meeting, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayeke announced his goal to phase out CFCs by 2005, five years earlier than the protocol requires.