Treaties, including multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), provide obligations for States to undertake either individual or joint action to implement international legal instruments. Implementation refers to the process by which countries establish national policies that reflect their treaty obligations. This brief clarifies the difference between three common implementation measures: national implementation plans (NIPs), national action plans (NAPs), and nationally determined contributions (NDCs). The brief provides a list of key recommendations to inform the negotiation of a plastics treaty, and concludes that far from being mutually exclusive, NIPs and NAPs should be seen as complementary forms of implementation of the future plastics treaty.
Contents include:
- differences, limitations, and complementarity of National Action Plans and National Implementation Plans;
- measures, risks, and challenges of nationally determined goals, obligations, and implementation measures; and
- recommendations for the future plastics treaty
Read National Implementation Plans and National Action Plans.