| Montreal, 31/07/2000 – The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has closed the file on a Submission on Enforcement Matters (SEM-97-007) received from the Instituto de Derecho Ambiental, A.C.
The Submission alleges that Mexico's failure to respond to the submitter's domestically-lodged citizen complaint (denuncia popular) concerning degradation of the Lerma Santiago River - Lake Chapala Basin, constitutes a failure on the part of Mexico to enforce environmental legislation effectively.
Subsequent to filing its submission with the CEC, the Instituto did receive a response to its domestic complaint. The chronology of events, however, precluded inclusion in the Submission of any assertions pertaining to Mexico's response. Such assertions normally form the basis of the CEC's consideration of the effectiveness of enforcement. In the absence of such assertions, the CEC cannot proceed with this file.
Under Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), the CEC 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 Council approval, this can launch a process that leads to further investigation of the matter and the publication of findings in a factual record, as provided under NAAEC Article 15.
The CEC was established under NAAEC to address environmental issues in North America from a continental perspective, with a particular focus on the opportunities and challenges that arise in the context of liberalized trade. The CEC Council is composed of the environment ministers or the equivalent of Canada, Mexico and the United States. | 
