INF/TE /IDP/RD/100 * 
 
3 February  2023 
(23-0776) Page: 1/4 
 Original: English/anglais/inglès  
 
  
UNOFFICIAL ROOM DOCUMENT1 
 
DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION AND  ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE 
PLASTICS TRADE  
STATEMENT  BY THE FORUM ON TRADE, ENVIRONMENT & THE SDGS (TESS)  
Plenary Meeting – 7 December 2022  
 
 
DOCUMENT DE S ÉANCE NON OFFICIEL1 
 
DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE 
PLASTICS TRADE  
STATEMENT BY THE FORUM ON TRADE, ENVIRONMENT & THE SDGS (TESS)  
Plenary Meeting – 7 December 2022  
 
 
DOCUMENTO DE SALA NO OF ICIAL1 
 
DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION AND  ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE 
PLASTICS TRADE  
STATEMENT BY THE FORUM ON TRADE, ENVIRONMENT & THE SDGS (TESS)  
Plenary Meeting – 7 December 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 m eeting rooms and are attributed 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 sero nt pas systématiquement 
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 OM C. Por lo general se distribuyen en 
el idioma en que han sido presentados y no se traduce n 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 únicamente.  INF/TE/IDP/RD/100  
 
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STATEMENT BY THE FORUM ON TRADE, ENVIRONMENT & THE SDGS (TESS)  
 
IDP PLENARY DECEMBER 7, 2022  
Statement on item e) i) of the convening notice:  
e. Open discussion on the following guiding question:  
 
i. Considering the substantive technical work developed in 2022, what are the next steps and 
options the Dialogue should pursue to implement its 2021 Ministerial Statement 
(WT/MIN(21)/8/Rev.2), in particular Ministers' call to achieve "concrete, pragmatic, and 
effective outcomes … at the latest by MC13" . 
 
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1. Thank you to the dialogue coordinators for the oppor tunity to contribute today and for your 
leadership of this process. It was also great to see Ambassador Wilson from Barbados here for 
the first time, continuing the great leadership of Barbados on this Dialogue.  
2. In its first year, the Dialogue on Plastics Pollution has made a significant contribution to building 
shared understanding of the linkages between trade and plastic pollution, as well as options for 
harnessing trade and trade policies to support national and international efforts to end plastic 
pollution.  
3. In 2022, the Dialogue has also been a critical vehicle for members to share national experiences 
and to build the knowledge base for future work, including through surveys of their trade -related 
plastic pollution members and capacity building needs . 
4. In so doing, the Dialogue has demonstrated that the engagement of stakeholders and experts 
in the work of the Dialogue can contribute to and strengthen the identification of issues, 
challenges, and opportunities relevant to cooperation in this area.  
5. In regard to the question on next steps, the founding ministerial statement for the Dialogue 
underlines the goal of identifying concrete, pragmatic, and effective outcomes at the latest by 
MC13. As noted by many members and stakeholders, we agree that Dialogu e provides an 
opportunity to identify and foster specific areas for trade -related cooperation at the WTO and 
that this can support the international negotiations on an internationally legally binding 
instrument to end plastic pollution.  
6. 2023 will be a crit ical year for members not only to identify best practices and actions that they  
could  take collectively, but also to advance work to foster those collective actions  so that you 
achieve concrete, pragmatic, and effective outcomes envisaged for MC13.  
7. A suggestion from TESS, which we offer to spur discussion, is that for each workstream 
delegations could work toward a matrix of options for trade -related contributions, best practices, 
or actions for to which WTO members could make voluntary political commi tments or pledges, 
working individually or collaboratively. Such an effort would need to be guided by some specific 
proposals from members or groups of members on options and examples of pledges.  
INF/TE/IDP/RD/100  
 
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  8. Importantly, some of the voluntary, collective actions may b e of interest to a wider set of WTO 
members, including those that have not formally co -sponsored the Dialogue. Just as the Dialogue 
is open for all members to join or participate, inviting the broad diversity of members to consider 
contributing to the conc rete outcomes for MC13 would help broaden the impact of effort.  
9. Continuing to share information about the Dialogue with the Committee on Trade and 
Environment will be vital on this front, and with wider international processes focused on plastic 
pollution . A key priority going forward is to ensure that environmental policymakers are invited 
to lend their expertise and support for trade -related efforts that can support their efforts to 
tackle plastic pollution, and that trade policymakers seek guidance from  environmental 
policymakers on how best to support their efforts.  
10. In this regard, a joint session or workshop of the Dialogue in 2023 of environment and trade 
policymakers on plastics pollution, or indeed with collaboration with UNEP, could be a concrete 
way to forge cooperation between trade and environmental ministries nationally and support 
coordination across international processes particularly. The workshop could focus, for instance, 
on the reduce and circularity aspects of the Dialogue’s work .  
11. Regar ding the question of specific options that could be prioritised under the three workstreams 
towards MC13:  
12. Under Workstream 1 on Crosscutting Issues for International Cooperation, members may wish 
to: 
• Advance concrete national or collective proposals for en hancing transparency of trade flows 
across the life cycle of plastics. This can include proposals for HS reform on plastics as well 
as environmentally sound plastic substitutes, including through the ongoing HS review cycle 
at the WCO to facilitate enhance d transparency, enable more granular data collection and 
facilitate policy and regulatory action.  
• Advance concrete cooperation and partnerships around plastics pollution and  Aid for Trade 
, drawing on priorities identified by members in these meetings and  also in responses 
received for the Aid for Trade Global Review and Needs Assessment survey and the survey 
on Trade -related Measures on Plastic Pollution.  
• Continue to identify priorities for cooperation around international standards that are most 
relevant  to promoting more sustainable supply chains and trade, such as on plastic 
packaging, product design, and non -plastic substitutes, and the cross -cutting issues of the 
material composition of products, which will be key to making transparency and phasing ou t 
the most harmful plastics and additives.  
13. Under Workstream 2, Promoting Trade to Tackle Plastic Pollution, members may wish to:  
• Promote trade in environmentally sustainable and effective non -plastic substitutes. Here, 
members with the potential to produc t and trade these substitutes, could develop specific 
proposals on how specific co -operation on trade -related policies, standards, technology 
transfer, Aid for Trade, and investment could help and options for collective action in that 
regard.  
• Identify opti ons and potential outcomes on environmentally sound waste management. Here 
it would be useful to focus on the potential role of trade and trade policies in promoting other 
production, diffusion, and uptake of products, services, and technologies vital for 
environmentally sound plastic waste collection, sorting, management, recycling, and clean 
up.  
 
14. Critical here will be to learn from existing work on bolstering waste management capacity, led 
by priorities expressed by developing countries, and bearing in m ind the need to focus on 
technologies and services that environmentally sounds and credible, and are appropriate and 
adapted to local circumstances and to local employment needs. Here, we would underline that 
many developing countries have innovative appro aches in this regard, and so there is significant 
scope for South -South information -exchange, cooperation and partnerships.  
  INF/TE/IDP/RD/100  
 
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  15. Under Workstream 3, Circularity and Reduction to Tackle Plastic Pollution, as a starting point, 
members may wish to  
• Consider spec ific options to phase down, or indeed in some instances end, trade in single 
use and problematic plastics. Here there is scope for voluntary commitments to ban exports 
and imports of goods that are prohibited domestically (such as many types of single -use 
plastics and packaging) and to explore: a) if there are ways to build on the range of measures 
that countries are already taking on single use plastics; b) opportunities to expand the 
geographical range of countries taking collective/shared action on speci fic categories of 
single use plastics, including through regional collaboration, and c) opportunities to expand 
the range of single use products considered for trade -related action and cooperation.  
• Members could focus on specific actions that they could ta ke individually and collectively to 
reduce and phase -out use of unnecessary and problematic packaging for widely traded 
products, drawing on national examples and best practices. This could also include 
identifying how trade and trade policies can support re-use and refill systems as one 
approach to reducing packaging and thus to reduce plastic pollution.  
• Again international cooperation on standards, such as on ecodesign and labelling of products, 
packaging and transparency of material composition of produc ts, will be relevant as a cross -
cutting issue relevant to trade and internationally supply chains. This can include issues 
related to extending product life (such as through repairability and re -usability), reducing 
unnecessary use of plastics and limiting  the number of plastics and combinations used in 
products, eliminating harmful additives, and remanufacturing of products. This area of work 
could also include consideration of technologies that could assist countries and customs 
authorities to monitor and  have a more precise picture of trade flows across borders, 
especially fo those trade flows most relevant to plastic pollution.  
16. In the reduce and circularity stream, it would be useful for coordinators and cosponsors to 
consider how to forge cooperation be tween trade and environmentally ministries nationally and 
support coordination on the reduce and circularity aspect of the Dialogue’s work. Several 
delegations have noted the need to connect the dots with policymaking and experts on these 
topics at the nat ional level and in other international processes, especially when it comes to 
action focused on specific sectors. This could for instance be something to discuss with UNEP as 
a potential partner.  
17. Finally, we welcome the ongoing commitment of coordinators a nd facilitators to engaging 
stakeholders in this work and for the recognition that you have expressed for the contributions 
that stakeholders can make to outcomes that are effective,  ambitious and environmentally 
credible by building support for action on  trade and plastic pollution, providing evidence and 
expertise, producing evidence -based policy options and vision in terms of outcomes that could 
be achieved, and fostering synergies across international processes with the shared goal of 
ending plastic po llution.   
18. We also take the opportunity to congratulate you on the web page for this Dialogue on the WTO 
website, which is playing a vital role in enabling stakeholders and governments to participate 
and support this process, including by providing meeting  agendas, presentations and statements 
from stakeholders, as well as from the Secretariat and some members. This is also a way that 
policymakers in environmental ministries can easily access information about this process and 
so build synergies. We encoura ge more members and stakeholders to consider making their 
individual statements in this Dialogue publicly available on the website too.  
 
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