INF/TE/IDP/RD/27* 
25 March 2022  
(22-2529) Page: 1/2 
 Original: English /anglais/ inglés  
 
  
UNOFFICIAL ROOM DOCUMENT1 
 
COMMENTS BY THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 
(IISD)  
IDP WORKSTREAMS MEETING – 18 MARCH 2022  
 
 
DOCUMENT DE S ÉANCE NON OFFICIEL1 
 
COMMENTS BY THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 
(IISD)  
IDP WORKSTREAMS MEETING – 18 MARCH 2022  
 
 
DOCUMENTO DE SALA NO OF ICIAL1 
 
COMMENTS  BY THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 
(IISD)  
 
IDP WORKSTREAMS MEETING – 18 MARCH 2022  
 
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* 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 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 d ans laquelle ils ont été communiqués et ne seront 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 l a serie RD no son documentos oficiales de la OMC. 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/27  
 
- 2 - 
 
  IISD COMMENTS OFFERED AT THE 18 MARCH 2022 IDP WORKSTREAMS MEETING  
 
1. UNEA 5.2 sent a clear signal encouraging international organizations to join forces around the 
common goal in the fight against global plastics pollution. And for the WTO Members, in this 
initiative, there is a substantial role to play bringing more clarity about plastics trade and taking 
necessary measures to impact the international trade flows and shape global markets for the plastic -
less future. Regional or country examples already exist , and IDP provides an excellent space to share 
the measures taken and the analysis of their impacts on trade and  the environment. Among such 
measures taken by the WTO Members, one can find outright import or export bans or other trade 
restrictions, the introdu ction of import and export licenses, standards, and other technical 
regulations or specifications or some innovative procedures for transboundary movements as 
presented by the BRS colleagues. Looking deeper, we can see the government support that at times 
was supporting the development of cleaner energy sources; however, often also went to support 
fossil fuels and petrochemical industry – and the trend here, unfortunately, is not the one of 
reduction.  
2. UNCTAD’s presentation showed the critical share of plas tics in international trade and efforts 
to change that would demand political will and the best examples of policy design that can be 
followed. This is the work that we hope to support through our participation at the IDP. It is evident 
that no single acti on can impact the 180 -degree turn in the plastic problem and that different actions 
and elements will need to be combined to see the impact that we are hoping for. Substitutes and 
alternatives can become a part of such solution. We are happy to hear that U NCTAD is already 
planning future work on this . It would be exciting to see more data about the expectations of plastics 
market share that the substitutes/alternatives could eventually take, reversing the growing trend of 
plastics use the OECD described so well. Similarly, we would be very interested to hear more about 
the role of trade policy measures in enabling the change and at which level they are best taken.  
3. OECD has just presented us with a good set of advice on creating markets for recycled plastics 
and how to level the playing field for primary plastics. Most  importantly pointed out the importance 
of collective action  that IDP can become part of .  
4. The last point to take away from this meeting is both the importance of transparency and 
reporting in plastics trade and the vast opportunities there stemming from existing WTO databases 
and other international organizations that already have or are maintaining the ir reporting 
mechanisms. TESS has presented some important recommendations that could help us improve 
information collection in the future, and we hope we can further address this issue in the future.  
 
 
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