Japan Statement 29 May 2023
under agenda item 4
The second session of Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop aninternational legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in themarine environment
Chair, Ambassador Meza-Cuadra, distinguished delegates andstakeholders,Japan expresses its sincere gratitude to the government of France forkindly hosting the second session of INC here in Paris.
Japan supports the statements made by the Asia Pacific Group, and HAC.
The adverse impact of plastic pollution to the environment andecosystem and risks to human health and wellbeing must be addressed urgently.
All delegations share an immense responsibility here in INC2 to advance ournegotiations effectively and expeditiously and to show to the international
community a clear path to resolve this issue.
With the involvement of all stakeholders, including local governments
and industries, we need to establish a framework that promotes effective andprogressive actions all over the world.
Japan has steadfastly committed to this negotiation for ending plastic
pollution. We would like to share with all of you that at the G7 summit inHiroshima, G7 leaders shared a commitment to end plastic pollution, with theambition to reduce additional plastic pollution to zero by 2040. The Japanesedelegation is willing to make important contributions to the negotiation based onthat commitment.
Japan appreciates the preparation work for INC2 by the secretariat. The
document on potential options for elements, in particular, provides us a goodbasis for discussions on the substance of the instrument.
This week, Japan would like to contribute mainly by proposing to add
several elements which are critical for an effective instrument. They were in oursubmission.

First, the instrument must include both objectives and a common goal.
We feel that the term “End plastic pollution” expresses a strong determinationthat we all must share, but because of its ambiguity, it is necessary to set a clear
common goal with a timeframe under the objective of the instrument. Therefore,
Japan proposes to have a common goal inserted after the objectives along theline of “with the ambition to reduce additional plastic pollution to zero by 2040”,
considering that the Osaka Blue Ocean Vision that set a 2050 timeline has beenshared by 87 countries and regions, and more recently, the G7 members shared arenewed ambition for 2040.
Second, the instrument must have mechanisms to prevent the release ofplastic pollution into the environment, by keeping plastics within a circular loop.
From this perspective, as core obligations, the instrument must develop an
appropriate mechanism in the whole society to promote a circular economy forplastics, control plastic leakage into the environment, and to take necessary
measures such as reduce, reuse, recycle and renewable measures, covering every
stage of the plastic lifecycle. Elements on recycling deserve more attention in theinstrument. Section B of the paper focuses mostly on production and waste
management sectors. The Section should equally address efforts at the otherstages of distribution, sales, and consumption. Raising awareness is also criticalto bring about change in people’s behavior. Member states must consider all ofthese aspects and include their effective measures for plastic circularity in their
National Action Plans that covers every stage of the plastic lifecycle.
Third, the instrument must have provisions on National Action Plans andNational Reporting mechanisms as core obligations. These should require
respective countries to plan concrete roadmaps and targets as well as collect andpresent clear data and evidence. By doing so, we can ensure that every country’s
progress in their actions is monitored in a transparent and comparable manner.
We kindly ask for our full statement to be made available on the UNEP
website. It includes an attachment on several core elements, which deserve to beconsidered among the options contained in the Options Paper. These elements
are mainly from our latest submission.
Japan remains committed to completing the final text of the instrument by
the end of 2024. Japan strongly hopes that by the end of this week, we will beready to request the Chair and the secretariat to prepare a zero draft text of theinstrument so that intensive discussions on the text can begin at INC3.
Thank you.

Additional options for elements for consideration at INC-2
This paper presents additional options for elements towards an international legallybinding instrument, which were mostly included in Japan’s submission but not reflectedin the Option Paper. While Japan does not intend to negotiate the texts in Option Paperitself in detail, we believe that these options for elements are essential to developing aneffective international legally binding instrument and should be considered in the INC
discussions.
1. Objectives and Goal
(1) Objectives
The following elements should be included in Objectives:-Prevention of potential risks to human health (we should note that it requires carefulconsideration based on the future progress of scientific knowledge and evidence)

Adverse effects could extend to the marine and other environments, ecosystem andbiodiversity
The importance of those factors are reaffirmed in the UNEA resolution 5/14.
-(2) Goal
Setting a common goal to reduce additional plastic pollution should also be included
as an element.
Elements that should be considered in discussions as found in Japan’s submission
II.
A. Objectives and goal
The committee may wish to consider using the following statements of objective of theinstrument:(d) End plastic pollution with the ambition to reduce additional plastic pollution to zeroby 2040; prevent its related risks to human health and adverse effects on human wellbeing and the marine and other environment throughout the life cycle of plastic to avoid
detriment from plastic pollution to ecosystem and biodiversity.
2. Core obligations, control measures and voluntary approaches
The current Option Paper covers limited stages of the plastic lifecycle - production andwaste management and disposal. Other stages of its lifecycle - sales, distribution, andconsumption - should also be included in order to realize a full-lifecycle approach.
We emphasize upon the importance of including overarching obligations to establish

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an appropriate mechanism in the whole society to promote plastic circular economy andto take necessary measures to promote plastic circularity covering every state of plasticlifecycle. Such options is not included in the current Option Paper.
Also, promotion of recycling should be more included as an element in the Option
Paper because it is necessary as a solution. Even substitute materials also produce wastes
after use, potentially leading to additional pollution, if they are not handled properly.
In addition, the effective measures at every stage of plastic lifecycle must be clarified,for example, in an Annex of the Convention as concrete measures of core obligations.
This helps the Member States to make sure that necessary measures are properly reflectedin their NAPs and to consider adding other promising measures in the Annex if necessary
in the future.
Elements that should be considered in discussions as found in Japan’s submission
B.0 Possible core obligation: establish overarching obligations through whole-of-society
approach to promote plastic circular economy and control plastic leakage into the marineand other environments.
The committee may wish to consider including the following potential option for control
measures and voluntary measures.
-Establish an appropriate mechanism in the whole society to promote circular economy
on plastic and control plastic leakage into the marine and other environments.

-Take necessary measures to promote plastic circularity in society, such as 3R,
covering every stage of plastic lifecycle, such as production, sales, consumption,
waste management and disposal, take into account national circumstances.

-

The following effective measures at every stage of plastic lifecycle for plastic
circularity and its leakage prevention must be clarified as an overview of all theclauses on core obligations to ensure that the necessary measures to be taken at eachstage are covered in the convention, for example, shown as in the form of a list in an
Annex and be properly reflected in NAPs.
<Production stage>- Reduce plastic use out of the loop of plastic circularity, including single use plastic- Enhance sustainable product design for the environment by production improvement
such as volume reduction, simplification of packaging, ensuring long life of plastics,
reuse of parts, use of mono materials, making it easier to break apart, sort out andtransport for ease of recycling2

- Promote evaluation of plastic product footprints on the environment, sharing
information on product materials, cooperation between stakeholders, andstandardization of product design and guideline- Develop and encourage use of substitute materials- Avoid production and use of plastics which are difficult to be collected and unable
to be recycled, also known as problematic plastics, and promote the shift to substitutematerials- Collect and recycle used plastics by production sectors (promotion of reuse,
improvement of recycling rate of plastics)<Distribution/Consumption stage>- Reduce single-use plastics- Collect and recycle used plastics by distribution/consumption sectors (promotion ofreuse, improvement of recycling rate of plastics)- Raise awareness about the problem of global plastic pollution and importance of ourbehavioral changes in plastic use<Waste management and disposal stage>- Develop national sound waste management policies based on the appropriate
priorities of waste management- Ensure nation-wide sorting, collection and recycling systems for plastics- Enhance recycling capacity in light of current usage levels and future projections toensure environmentally sound waste management- Prevent illegal dumping and littering, avoid open dumping and implement soundwaste disposal- Collect discharged plastics into the marine and other environments<Others>（International/Regional Cooperation, and other measures that can be adopted by
future Conference of Parties(to be considered in light of scientific and socio-economic
assessments and technological development)
3．Primary plastic polymers
The current Option Paper suggests in Section B.1 to include restrictions on primary
plastic polymers as possible elements. In our views, however, it is important that anymeasures reflect different circumstances where each country is placed, depending on3

how much plastic pollution is controlled. Measures with regard to the production or useof plastics should not be one size fits all restrictions such as imposing a blanket ban, as
mentioned in Japan’s submission.
As Japan proposes in its submission
Reducing plastic use out of the loop of plastic circularity, including single use plastic
collecting and recycling used plastics by production sectors such as promotion ofreuse and improvement of recycling rate
We would like to add this option in this Section, because the more used plastics arecollected and recycled in the circularity loop, there is less need to produce primary plastics
accordingly.
-Elements that should be considered in discussions as found in Japan’s submission
B.1.Possible core obligation：phasing out and/of reducing the supply of, demand for anduse of primary plastic polymers
Para 10 (a) Options for targets:(iii) Increase use of recycled material and set a target for the reuse of plastic
products, to promote to reduce plastic use out of the loop of plastic circularity.

4. Implementation measures: National action plans (NAPs) and related obligations
As Developing NAPs and National reporting are very important element to oblige theMember States to recognize their responsibility and take concrete actions to tackle plastic
pollution, they should be not considered as mere means of implementation but as maincore obligations. Therefore, the overall options on NAPs and National reporting should
be moved to Section B “Core obligation”.
In addition, the current Option Paper does not concretely refer to what should becommon elements and minimum content of NAPs and it suggests that Harmonizedguidance of NAPs be developed by the governing body, namely the 1st COP(para 30).
However, such element and content should be clarified in the texts or Annexes of theinstrument so that Member States can develop their own NAPs swiftly before the firstCOP. A specific format should also be determined by the adoption of the instrument.
Japan also proposes specific common elements to be included in NAPs by its
submission, which are indispensable for a transparent and robust PDCA (Plan Do CheckAction) mechanism for assessment of Members’ actions and their progress. Theseelements should be taken into consideration for possible options.

4Elements that should be considered in discussions as found in Japan’s submission【This part should be moved to Section B “Core obligations”】
D.1.National action plans
D.2 National reporting
30. The committee may wish to consider the following potential options for generally
applicable guidance on NAPs：(d) A set of common elements and minimum content of NAPs, Harmonized guidance onNAPs and a specific format must be identified in (an) article(s) or (an) Annex(es) of theinstrument.
(e) A set of common elements and minimum content of NAPs include targets and actionsin the medium term as well as long-term strategies towards the realizations of the global
objectives and goal of the instrument.
(f) Ensuring transparent assessment of progress by Members, visualization ofimplementations should be realized by using objective data and its evidence on measuresin NAP and National reporting.
(g) Such data and its evidence include numerical information on production andconsumption, leakage along the value chain, waste generation collection of waste,
recycling(quantity/rates), collection of discharged plastics from the marine and otherenvironments, policy targets and goals reflecting the global goal, detailed roadmap
towards the realization of the targets and goals, and their achievements.
(h) Each Member State strives to visualize domestic flows of plastic in the plastic
lifecycle and losses to and accumulated stocks in the environment as shown in Figure 1of UNEP/PP/INC.1/7.(Such visualization would highlight priority areas for reducing
plastic pollution based on national circumstances.)

5. Evaluation and recommendation by a technical expert group
Evaluation and recommendation by a technical expert group based on scientificknowledge should appropriately be reflected in making criteria regarding problematic andavoidable plastic products, determining which polymers and chemical materials areproblematic, and developing guidelines (and specific measures regarding emission sourceof micro-plastic), among others.
Elements that should be considered in discussions as found in Japan’s submission5

11（b）add. To this end, establish a technical expert group on plastic that may provide
recommendations to decide the criteria. The group should consist of experts, scientists,
academia and other stakeholders such as industry sectors.
12（a）add. To this end, establish a technical expert group on plastic that may provide
recommendations to decide the criteria. The group should consist of experts, scientists,academia and other stakeholders such as industry sectors.
(13（a）(i)(ii)(b) (i)(ii)(iii)
Add. To this end, establish a technical expert group on plastic that may provide
recommendations to decide the criteria. The group should consist of experts, scientists,academia and other stakeholders such as industry sectors.)
15 (a) add. To this end, establish a technical expert group on plastic that may provide
recommendations to decide the criteria. The group should consist of experts, scientists,academia and other stakeholders such as industry sectors.

6. Core obligations at every stage of plastic lifecycle
Obligations at stages of distribution, sales, and consumption should be included ascore obligations so that the whole and each lifecycle of plastic has obligations. To that
end, “Awareness-raising and education” found in section E.I of the current Option Paper
should be moved to section B “Core obligations.”
Awareness-raising and education are essential to promote behavioral change ofconsumers on the use of plastic.
Promoting collection and recycling of used plastics at distribution, sale andconsumption stages including raising recycling rate of plastics should also be added ascore obligations.
Elements that should be considered in discussions as found in Japan’s submission
B. X Possible core obligation: awareness-raising and education(para 34 should be moved to Section B)
B.7 Possible core obligation: encourage reduce, reuse and repair of plastic products andpackaging
16 .(b) Option for regulation and encouraging reduction, reuse, and recycle of plastic

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(iii) Recommend the parties promote reuse and recycle through collection of usedplastics by production sector (promotion of reuse and recycle, improvementof recycling rate of plastics)(v) promote to collect and recycle used plastics by distribution and consumption
sectors(promotion of reuse and recycle, improvement of recycling rate ofplastics)
7. Strengthening waste management
Obligations regarding waste management such as domestic policies and enhancing
recycling capacity should be included as core obligations.
Elements that should be considered in discussions as found in Japan’s submission
Possible core obligations: strengthening waste management
14．(b) Options for regulating plastic waste:(iv) Set indicators and obligations for plastic waste collection, sorting andrecycling, especially at the national level, including developing national soundwaste management policies based on the appropriate priorities of waste
management(vi) Enhance recycling capacity in light of current usage levels and future
projections to ensure environmentally sound waste management(vii) Prevent illegal dumping and littering, avoid open dumping and implementsound waste disposal(viii)Collect discharged plastics into the marine and other environments

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