| Montreal, 25/06/2001 – The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has received a citizen submission alleging failure on the part of Mexico in its enforcement of environmental laws with respect to a civil dispute arising from contamination of groundwater in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
The submission (SEM-01-003) was filed by the company Mercerizados y Teñidos de Guadalajara, S.A. on 14 June 2001. It claims that, in a civil trial, Mexico refused to treat as valid evidence a technical opinion issued by the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente--Profepa), relating to groundwater contamination that the submission says was caused by the firm Dermet, S.A. de C.V., a producer of pesticides and fungicides in the city of Guadalajara. The submission asserts that in so doing, Mexico failed to enforce effectively Article 194 of the General Law of Ecological Equilibrium and Environmental Protection (Ley General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente-LGEEPA), and its commitments concerning procedural guarantees and private access to remedies under Articles 5, 6 and 7 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC).
Under Article 14 of NAAEC, the Secretariat may consider a submission from any person or nongovernmental organization asserting that a Party to NAAEC is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law. Where the Secretariat determines that the NAAEC Article 14(1) criteria are met, it may then proceed with a process that can lead to the development of a factual record on the matter. In accordance with Article 15(2) of NAAEC, the Secretariat shall prepare a factual record if the Council, by a two-thirds vote, instructs it to do so.
The CEC 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. The CEC Council, the organization's governing body, is composed of the environment ministers (or equivalent) of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
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