| Montreal, 27/10/2000 – The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (NACEC) has closed the file on allegations that Mexico failed to enforce an environmental law effectively by allowing the operation of the Cytrar hazardous waste landfill six kilometers from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.
The complaint was filed with NACEC as a Submission on Enforcement Matters (SEM 98-005) by the Academia Sonorense de Derechos Humanos, A.C., and Domingo Gutiérrez Mendívil.
The Submission alleges that the Cytrar facility's proximity to the city of Hermosillo contravenes Mexican standards, which require that hazardous waste landfills be sited no closer than twenty-five kilometers from human habitation.
In its review of the Submission and Mexico's response to it, NACEC found that the site was authorized as a hazardous waste landfill in 1987, before the standard governing the siting of such facilities came into effect. NACEC concluded, therefore, that the development of a factual record is not warranted on the grounds that the law referenced by the Submission is not applicable to the environmental concern raised by the Submission (see summary of NACEC determination at ).
Under Article 14 of the NAAEC, the NACEC Secretariat may consider a submission from any person or nongovernmental organization asserting that a Party to NAAEC is failing to enforce its environmental law effectively. With two-thirds' approval of the environment ministers of Canada, Mexico and the United States (NACEC's governing body), a process that leads to further investigation of the matter and the publication of findings in a factual record can be launched, as provided by NAAEC Article 15.
NACEC was established under 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. |
