Plastics

The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, was set up in 2022 at the request of the United Nations Environment Assembly.

CIDCE actively supports the creation of a global convention aimed at preventing, combating and eradicating all forms of plastic pollution of terrestrial, atmospheric and aquatic environments, including marine ecosystems.

In support of the negotiation of such a convention by country delegations within the INC, CIDCE first submitted, in January 2023, preliminary suggestions on the key elements that it should embody.

CIDCE then formed a working group of environmental law experts to prepare detailed proposals on the content of the future convention, intended for the second session of the INC in Paris (29 May – 2 June 2023).

At the end of a series of meetings held from February to May 2023, the working group formulated a set of proposals addressing successively the following issues: (i) preamble; (ii) objectives, definitions and scope; (iii) principles and core obligations; (iv) production, use and wastes; (v) trade, control, traceability and free plastic zones; and (vi) information, education, cooperation and implementation.