PARIS, May 31, 2023 — Following the adoption of the Rules of Procedure of the Second Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-2) to develop the future plastics treaty, David Azoulay, Director of the Environmental Health Program at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), issued the following statement:
“We have lost a day and a half of precious negotiation time to procedural delays re-debating the Rules of Procedure, a document that was first developed over a year ago at the Open-Ended Working Group in Dakar and provisionally adopted during INC-1 in Uruguay last November. When we compare where we were when we walked in the door to where we are now, we have lost ground by re-opening already agreed-upon text. But yesterday’s late-night session proved that Member States are capable of developing creative ways to start rebuilding some level of trust that will be sorely needed for the tough discussions ahead. While the compromise plan critically allows us to move out of the deadlock, the core substantive issues remain unsettled. The issue of consensus voting can re-emerge if — and when — a vote is deemed necessary at any point in future INCs.
Analysis of Member States submissions to the Secretariat ahead of INC-2 show that there is considerable alignment on many issues. Now, as we turn to discussing the UNEP-produced options paper and crafting a path forward to develop text, Member States can channel the trust that they developed during last night’s negotiations into the serious work ahead.”
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Additional Materials for Editors:
Heatmaps of Country Submissions Ahead of INC-2
Quick Views on Obligations and Control Measures of the UNEP Options for Elements Paper (Cluster 1)
Media Contact
Cate Bonacini, press@ciel.org, +1-202-742-5847