| Montreal, 22/04/2002 – By notice posted today, the Secretariat of North America's Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) is seeking information from the public for use in the preparation of a factual record on the Río Magdalena submission (SEM-97-002). The notice, along with a description of the information requested, is posted on the CEC web site: <http://www.cec.org>. The Secretariat will accept information until 30 August 2002.
The Río Magdalena submission was filed with the CEC on 7 April 1997, by Comité Pro Limpieza del Río Magdalena. The Submitters contend that Mexico is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law by allowing wastewater to be discharged into the Magdalena River from the municipalities of Imuris, Santa Ana and Magdalena de Kino in Sonora, Mexico, without proper treatment.
On 5 February 2002, in light of Mexico's response, the Secretariat recommended to the Council that a factual record be prepared, and recommended further review of Mexico's enforcement in regard to the three Sonoran municipalities of laws requiring treatment of wastewater and prohibiting water pollution. On 7 March 2002, the Council instructed the Secretariat to prepare a factual record as recommended by the Secretariat. The overall plan to develop the factual record was published on 22 March 2002 on the CEC web site.
Under Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (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. A factual record seeks to provide detailed factual information to allow interested persons to assess whether a Party has effectively enforced its environmental law with respect to the matter raised in the submission.
Under Article 15(4) and 21(1)(a) of the NAAEC, in developing a factual record, the Secretariat shall consider any information furnished by a Party and may ask a Party to provide information. The Secretariat also may consider any relevant technical, scientific or other information that is publicly available, submitted by the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) or by interested nongovernmental organizations or persons, or developed by the Secretariat or independent experts. In accordance with Article 15(7) of NAAEC, the Council may, by a two-thirds vote, make the final factual record publicly available.
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.
Please visit the Citizen Submission on Enforcement Matters page for more information.
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