INF/TE/IDP/RD/63/Rev.1* 
 
27 October 2022  
(22-8086) Page: 1/4 
 Original: English /anglais/ inglés  
 
  
UNOFFICIAL ROOM DOCUMENT1 
 
INFORMAL DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION  
AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS TRADE  
STATEMENT BY THE FORUM ON TRADE, ENVIRONMENT & THE SDGS (TESS)  
IDP Plenary  Meeting – 24 May 2022  
 
 
DOCUMENT DE SÉANCE NON OFFICIEL1 
 
INFORMAL DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION  
AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS TRADE  
STATEMENT BY THE FORUM ON TRADE, ENVIRONMENT & THE SDGS (TESS)  
IDP Plenary  Meeting – 24 May 2022  
 
 
DOCUMENTO DE SALA NO OFICIAL1 
 
INFORMAL DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION  
AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS TRADE  
STATEMENT BY THE FORUM ON TRADE, ENVIRONMENT & THE SDGS (TESS)  
IDP Plenary  Meeting – 24 May 2022  
 
_______________  
  
 
* In Original language only/En langue originale seulement/En el idioma original solamente.  
1 Documents issued in the RD series are not official WTO documents. They usually appear in their 
language of submission and will not be translated systematically into the working languages of the WTO. They 
are intended for use in WTO meeting rooms and are a ttributed an unofficial symbol for archiving purposes only.  
Les documents de la série RD ne sont pas des documents officiels de l 'OMC. Ils ne paraissent 
généralement que dans la langue dans laquelle ils ont été communiqués et ne seront pas systématiquemen t 
traduits dans les langues de travail de l'OMC. Ils sont destinés aux salles de réunion de l'OMC et une cote non 
officielle leur est attribuée à des fins d'archivage.  
Los documentos de la serie RD no son documentos oficiales de la OMC. Por lo general se d istribuyen en 
el idioma en que han sido presentados y no se traducen sistemáticamente a los idiomas de trabajo de la 
Organización. Se distribuyen para su uso en las salas de reunión de la OMC y se les asigna una signatura no 
oficial a efectos de archivo ún icamente.  INF/TE/IDP/RD/63/Rev.1  
 
- 2 - 
 
  Agenda Item 3. Briefing on the proposed next steps to implement the Ministerial 
Statement and related discussions (see Annex III)  
• Aid for Trade review and needs assessment survey and proposed event at the Eighth Global 
Review 2022.  
• Update by the WTO Secretariat on plastics -related elements and work o n the Aid for Trade 
Global Review  
Thank you for inviting us to share our thoughts and perspectives.  
We would like to start by underlining how excellent it was to see the engagement and range of 
interventions from delegates and stakeholders during the pre -plenary meeting held on 11th May.  
Thank you to the IDP coordinators for the preparation of the “AfT Review and Needs Assessment 
Survey" as well as the “Survey to Identify Members’ Trade -related Plastic Measures (TrPMs).” We 
believe that these two survey exercises will make a positive and significant contribution to bridging 
key information and knowledge gaps, to helping focus the IDP’s work, and ensuring that the 
outcomes you pursue here reflect members’ needs and priorities.  
In particular, we believe tha t the “AfT Review and Needs Assessment Survey” is really great step 
forward. It can help provide greater transparency of ongoing and future AfT efforts to address plastic 
pollution. It can also help promote better targeting of AfT, and other development as sistance and 
environmental financing, toward key priorities at the intersection of trade, plastic pollution and 
sustainable development. The driving priority of the survey must be to identify where developing 
countries and LDCs most need support to enhance  their capacities to effectively deal with plastic 
pollution across the life cycle through a variety of trade -related tools and policy measures.   
In addition to the various needs listed in the Needs Assessment Survey that are important and 
relevant, we wo uld also like to suggest the inclusion of specific needs that developing countries and 
LDCs may wish to prioritize in order to enable the clean -up of existing plastic pollution in the 
environment.  Here, it is especially important to recall that we have he ard from many Members in 
the IDP that such pollution has been shown to threaten the viability of important economic sectors 
such as tourism and fisheries as well as the livelihoods that are associated with them.  
We would also recommend that the Needs Asses sment Survey be accompanied or include some 
questions to which the stakeholders engaged in the IDP process could contribute their views and 
findings on needs and priorities, based on their activities and experiences with the intersection of 
trade and plast ic pollution.  
Here, there is a growing wealth of knowledge in international organisations and non -governmental 
organisations on the intersections of trade and plastic pollution and possible policy options. The IDP 
may also benefit from perspectives shared by the private sector with regard to different technologies 
and business models, including through re -design,  re -use, and substitution, that could help reduce 
address life -cycle related pollution in different contexts. In addition, companies that specific ally 
produce digital technologies that can enable better tracking, tracing and monitoring of plastics and 
plastic materials could also be invited to share information on the practical application of their 
technologies and conditions for their successful de ployment. Such presentations could provide 
valuable guidance on the role that AfT might play in leveraging greater private sector investment 
and technology deployment as well in developing countries that would promote more sustainable 
supply chains and hel p reduce plastic pollution associated with international trade.  
TESS is also pleased to circulate for the consideration of delegates and stakeholders its recently 
released Policy brief on “ Aid for Trade Priorities in the WTO Informal Dialogue on Plastics Pollution .”  
In the policy brief, we lay out some specific short and medium term options for next steps that IDP 
members could consider on AfT and plastic pollution.  In good news, the Needs Assessm ent Survey 
tabled today is exactly the kind of vital first step that we identify in the paper. We also signal the 
importance of ensuring that plastic pollution be included as a topic for the Aid for Trade Initiative’s 
workplan in the next biennium, includi ng by ensuring that it is on the agenda on the Aid for Trade 
Global Review in July.  Other immediate opportunities we note are to bolster the focus on plastic 
pollution in the WTO’s own technical assistance programme, as well as collaboration with the WCO INF/TE/IDP/RD/63/Rev.1  
 
- 3 - 
 
  on its green customs initiative and with the Basel Secretariat on the implementation of the Basel 
Convention ‘plastic waste amendments’.  
Looking ahead, we emphasise important for Aft efforts to be coordinated with a broader package of 
green economy -related  financing, environmental investments and development assistance beyond 
traditional Aid for Trade – all of these will be to reduce plastic pollution and facilitate just transition 
towards more circular economies in developing countries. In this regard TESS  would like to suggest 
that the IDP also invite relevant actors outside of the traditional Aid for Trade space engaged in 
addressing plastic pollution, such as the Global Environment Facility (GEF), to share findings from 
their technical and financial assi stance initiatives and efforts. It will also be useful to ensure that 
there is dialogue between donors and beneficiaries working on plastic pollution in the context of AfT 
and the efforts to negotiate financing provisions in the new international instrumen t on plastic 
pollution, including to propose a focus on trade dimensions in environmental financing arrangements 
that accompany the new treaty.  
Finally, in the policy brief, we also note that a key challenge for attention is the mismatch between 
the inadeq uate flows of Official Development Assistance targeted at reducing plastic pollution and 
the far greater volume of public and private financial flows directed towards the expansion of 
petrochemical and plastic sectors.  
• Communication to the World Customs O rganization (WCO).  
• Briefing by the WCO on recent HS2027 discussions on an amendment to plastics wastes 
definition in support of the Basel Convention Plastics Amendment  
Thank you for the opportunity to take the floor on the agenda item regarding the propose d letter to 
the World Customs Organisation regarding cooperation on issues related to trade and plastic 
pollution. We commend the IDP on this initiative, which we think is excellent step forward.   
You will all recall, TESS, together with UNCTAD, have emph asized at previous IDP discussions the 
short fall of reliable and disaggregated data on cross -border trade flows across the life cycle of 
plastics, noting that this is an important missing piece for effective, evidence -based policymaking to 
tackle plastic pollution. For this reason, we were heartened to hear from our colleagues from the 
World Customs Organization (WCO) this morning that governments are poised to move ahead on 
efforts to amend the World Custom Organization’s Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding 
System (HS) in order to enable better monitoring and regulation of plastic waste trade, and in 
particular to support implementation of the Basel Convention’s plastic waste amendments.  We 
welcome these efforts.  
At the same time, we note that there is additional work to be done to amend the HS to support 
international efforts to tackle plastic pollution.  
In short, beyond plastic waste, there are a number of further HS amendments that are needed to 
support the mon itoring and regulation of trade flows across the life cycle of plastics, from additives 
and other inputs to primary plastics and intermediary and final plastic products.  
In that spirit, we are pleased to share today a new TESS policy brief on that puts forward a subset 
of options that could be pursued in the current 2022 -2027 HS amendment cycle .  
The policy brief draws on a longer research paper and highlights the key short falls that amendments 
could seek to address and outlines a subset of options that governments could focus on in this 
amendment cycle, offe ring proposals on each stage of life cycle of plastics.  Briefly, and to highlight 
our point on the need to consider further amendments, let me quickly provide a snapshot of the 
kinds of amendment options that we hope Members might consider.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 INF/TE/IDP/RD/63/Rev.1  
 
- 4 - 
 
  
Recomm endations for the 2027 HS Amendment Cycle to Support Plastic Pollution 
Reduction  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
As noted by our colleague from the WCO, the window of opportunity for HS amendments in the 
current cycle is short. Only three HS committee meetings remain to reach conclusions on further 
amendments, with the next meeting coming September. TESS recommends t hat this  cycle of HS 
amendments is an opportunity that Members should encourage their customs authorities to seize, 
working in partnership with environmental ministries. If this opportunity is missed, amendments 
would need to wait until the 2028 -2033 cycl e, which we would argue is far too late given the urgency 
of action needed to tackle plastic pollution and the critical role that better trade data will play in 
enabling trade -related cooperation.  
Thank you Chair for the opportunity to contribute to these  IDP discussions.  
__________