Implementation, Compliance, and Reporting: Key Elements to Consider in the Context of a Treaty to End Plastic Pollution

The document argues that a plastics treaty must include a clear mandate for implementation and compliance mechanisms, including the early creation of an Implementation and Compliance Committee. It recommends a combined approach that is primarily facilitative but allows for punitive non-compliance response measures. To ensure effectiveness, the brief proposes a dual reporting system: frequent reports on legal obligations and less frequent reports on broader implementation, impacts, and challenges.

• The most effective treaty compliance is achieved through a combination of facilitative and punitive measures, rather than relying on only one approach.
• The Minamata Convention's Implementation and Compliance Committee (ICC) is cited as a cautionary example due to its failure to make proactive recommendations regarding a 2020 phase-out deadline for mercury in cosmetics, despite evidence of non-compliance.
• The brief recommends that the plastics treaty establish a dedicated Implementation and Compliance Committee with a broad range of trigger mechanisms, allowing the Secretariat, the Committee, the governing body, or Parties to initiate non-compliance assessments.
• Non-compliance response measures should include both incentives, such as technology transfer and financial assistance, and disincentives, such as the suspension of rights and benefits.
• A dual reporting structure is recommended: frequent reports (annual or bi-annual) on measurable legal obligations and less frequent reports (every four to five years) on implementation, impacts, and challenges.
• To address low reporting rates, the brief suggests linking reporting to compliance proceedings, citing the CITES mechanism where failure to submit annual trade reports for three consecutive years can lead to a recommended trade suspension.

APA

Sky, M. B. (2023). Implementation, Compliance, and Reporting: Key Elements to Consider in the Context of a Treaty to End Plastic Pollution. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Implementation-Compliance-and-Reporting-Key-Elements-to-Consider-in-the-Context-of-a-Treaty-to-End-Plastic-Pollution_FINAL.pdf

Chicago

Sky, Melissa Blue. Implementation, Compliance, and Reporting: Key Elements to Consider in the Context of a Treaty to End Plastic Pollution. Center for International Environmental Law, 2023. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Implementation-Compliance-and-Reporting-Key-Elements-to-Consider-in-the-Context-of-a-Treaty-to-End-Plastic-Pollution_FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Sky |first1=Melissa Blue |title=Implementation, Compliance, and Reporting: Key Elements to Consider in the Context of a Treaty to End Plastic Pollution |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=November 2023 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Implementation-Compliance-and-Reporting-Key-Elements-to-Consider-in-the-Context-of-a-Treaty-to-End-Plastic-Pollution_FINAL.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sky2023implementation, author = {Sky, Melissa Blue}, title = {{Implementation, Compliance, and Reporting: Key Elements to Consider in the Context of a Treaty to End Plastic Pollution}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2023}, month = nov, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Implementation-Compliance-and-Reporting-Key-Elements-to-Consider-in-the-Context-of-a-Treaty-to-End-Plastic-Pollution_FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }