UNEA Resolution 5/14 entitled ‘End Plastic Pollution: towards an international legally binding instrument’ set the mandate for the INC to negotiate an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. The INC is expected to conclude its work by the end of 2024, with a first meeting to take place in 2022. A preparatory meeting of an Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) on organisational matters pertaining to the INC took place from 30 May to 1 June 2022 in Dakar, Senegal (See Newsletter of 19 July 2022).

The launch of negotiations for an international agreement on plastics is a key achievement of the European Union’s Green Deal, the Circular Economy Action Plan, and is linked to a significant number of EU policies and legislation, including on the protection of the marine and coastal environment, notably the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The Recommendation lists numerous examples of relevant EU legislation. Ensuring an international agreement on plastics that tackles plastic pollution at its source instead of engaging in costly and not fully effective end-of-pipe solutions has thus been one of the Union’s key environmental priorities for global action over the past few years.

The objective of the Recommendation is to ensure a consistent and efficient negotiating position of the European Union in the sessions of the INC. The Commission recommends that:

• the Council authorise the Commission to open and conduct negotiations for the conclusion of a new international agreement on plastic pollution;
• the Commission be nominated as EU negotiator;
• the Commission conduct the negotiations in consultation with the special committee if designated by the Council in accordance with Article 218(4) TFEU; and
• the Council approve the negotiating directives annexed to this recommendation.

The Annex to the Recommendation contains proposed directives for the negotiations which relate, inter alia, to the scope of the agreement, the principles and objectives, and provisions of the agreement on institutional arrangements, future rulemaking, monitoring of compliance, financial support, possible future negotiations of annexes or protocols, and the complementing of legally binding provisions by non-binding provisions such as guidelines, standards and declarations.

The Commission Recommendation is currently being discussed in the Council’s Working Party on International Environmental Issues (WPIEI).

More information:

• Commission Recommendation
• UNEA Resolution 5/14
• OEWG Final Outcome Summary