| Montreal, 11/11/1996 – The Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) -- created by a side accord to NAFTA -- today asked the Government of Canada to respond to a submission filed by a Canadian non-governmental organization alleging that the Government of Canada is failing to effectively enforce provisions of the Fisheries Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. The Alberta-based organization, The Friends of the Old Man River, filed the submission in October.
Under Articles 14 and 15 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), any non-governmental organization or person may file a submission with the Secretariat of the CEC asserting that one of the NAFTA countries is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law.
The request for a response does not imply that the Secretariat has arrived at any decision or determination on the merits of the allegations in the submission. Under the NAAEC, the Canadian government has 30 days -- 60 in exceptional circumstances -- to respond to the CEC Secretariat’s request.
After the Canadian government has responded, the Secretariat will inform the Council whether or not, in its view, an inquiry to gather factual information -- known as a &qquot;factual record" -- is warranted. The CEC Council, composed of the Environment Ministers of the three NAFTA countries, then votes on whether to proceed with such an inquiry.
The CEC, which is equally funded by Canada, Mexico and the United States, is based in Montreal, Canada.
The registry of Article 14 submissions -- as well as more information on the CEC -- is available on the Internet at the following address: http://www.cec.org | 
