| Montreal, 2/05/2001 – The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (NACEC) has received a submission alleging a failure on the part of Canada to enforce effectively an environmental law concerning a Canadian company's export of products containing isobutyl nitrite to the United States. NACEC has dismissed the submission in light of its failure to satisfy the requirements of Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), which provides for the submission process.
The submission (SEM-01-002) alleges that Canada is failing in its obligation under NAAEC Article 2(3), which states that each Party shall consider prohibiting the export to the territories of the other Parties of a pesticide or toxic substance whose use is prohibited within the Party's territory.
NACEC concluded that Article 2(3) is not an environmental law within the meaning of Article 14 of NAAEC, because it is an international law that Canada has not accepted in a domestic statute or regulation. In addition, the submitters failed to show that their concern had been communicated to Canadian authorities as required under Article 14.
Under Article 14 of the NAAEC, NACEC may consider a submission from any person or nongovernmental organization asserting that a Party to NAAEC is failing in the effective enforcement of its environmental law. Where the NACEC Secretariat determines that NAAEC Article 14 criteria are met, it may then proceed with a process that, with the agreement of the NACEC Council, can lead to the development of a factual record on the matter.
This is the 30th citizen submission since the creation of NACEC in 1994.
NACEC was established under the NAAEC to address environmental issues in North America from a continental perspective, with a particular focus on those arising in the context of liberalized trade. The NACEC Council, the organization's governing body, is composed of the environment ministers of Canada, Mexico and the United Sta | 
