INF/TE/IDP/RD/93* 
 
20 January 2023  
(23-0484) Page: 1/2 
 Original: English , anglais, inglés  
 
  
UNOFFICIAL ROOM DOCUMENT1 
 
DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION AND  ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE 
PLASTICS TRADE  
STATEMENT  BY THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (IISD)  
Plenary Meeting – 7 December 2022  
 
 
DOCUMENT DE S ÉANCE NON OFFICIEL1 
 
DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION AND  ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE 
PLASTICS TRADE  
STATEMENT  BY THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (IISD)  
Plenary Meeting – 7 December 2022  
 
 
DOCUMENTO DE SALA NO OF ICIAL1 
 
DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION AND  ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE 
PLASTICS TRADE  
STATEMENT  BY THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (IISD)   
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 int ended 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 dans 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 la serie RD no son documen tos 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/93  
 
- 2 - 
 
  STATEMENT BY THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 
(IISD)  
 
1. Over the 2022 the DPP Members, including its coordinators and facilitators, have done an 
outstanding work both by introducing complex and broad subject of the role of trade in the fight 
against plastic pollution and, later in the year, looking into the detail of it through the lens of each 
of DPP’s respective workstreams.  
2. In particular, we want to compliment the DPP’s focus on increased transparency. We believe 
that both gathering the data on the WTO Mem bers’ plastics -related policies and the informal non -
binding discussions about them help the Members get a better understanding of the objectives and 
design of such measures. This process should continue in the future meetings to allow Members go 
further o n this path of learning about each others’ experiences fighting the plastic pollution using 
trade and trade -related instruments.  
3. It is, however, very important to not stop at the transparency, but rather look at the 
meaningful ways to take further actions in the reduction of unnecessary plastic consumption in our 
society. Many of the WTO Members have already started their efforts and took first steps towards 
this goal, including using trade -related instruments, for example on single -use plastics, plastic 
packaging or plastic waste, as we were able to witness in the last pre -plenary meeting. 
Understanding in a more granular way what has already been done and what can further be done in 
this house in a way that is complementary to the INC’s efforts could be an  important objective for 
the DPP Members in 2023. Each Member might land with a different answer suitable to their 
environmental, trade and economic realities and the collective thinking about those different 
priorities could help the DPP Members think abo ut the best ways forward.  
4. It is clear that the discussion about the best ways to replace the most harmful types of plastics 
and plastic products will need to continue in 2023 to help us all benefit from a better understanding 
on how the Members’ plastic re duction effort could be best supported and whether trade policy has 
a stronger role to play in increasing the circularity or promoting the use of some 
substitutes/alternatives.  
 
 
__________