| Montreal, 5/08/2002 – The Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America (CEC) has recommended to the CEC Council that a factual record be developed on allegations that the government of Mexico is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law concerning the closed Cytrar hazardous waste landfill near the city of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. The recommendation was made in accordance with Articles 14 and 15 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) regarding a citizen submission filed on 14 February 2001, by Academia Sonorense de Derechos Humanos, A.C. and Domingo Gutiérrez Mendívil (SEM-01-001).
The Submitters assert that the owners of the Cytrar landfill operated it without an environmental impact authorization, failed to comply with cell design and construction requirements, and illegally disposed of hazardous waste originating from the US company, Alco Pacífico, Inc. The Submitters allege that the improper disposal of hazardous waste has harmed human health and the environment, and that Mexico has improperly denied the Submitters environmental information concerning the landfill.
On 4 June 2001, Mexico provided an initial response to the submission, contending that a pending international arbitration concerning the Cytrar hazardous waste landfill requires the Secretariat to proceed no further with the submission, under NAAEC Article 14(3)(a).
On 13 June 2001, the Secretariat determined that Mexico had not provided sufficient information to determine whether the Cytrar II submission and the international arbitration concern the same subject matter. On 30 July 2001, Mexico provided additional information concerning the international arbitration proceeding. Mexico did not respond to the allegations of the submission in either of its responses.
On 29 July 2002, the Secretariat determined that the matter raised in the submission is not the subject of the international arbitration invoked by Mexico under Article 14(3)(a), and that it should proceed with its review of the submission. The Secretariat concluded that the submission raises questions that remain open, particularly absent a response from Mexico to the specific allegations of the submission, and that developing a factual record would contribute to furthering the goals of the NAAEC.
The CEC Secretariat informed the Council of its determination on 29 July 2002, and now, five business days later, is able to provide public notification of the determination and to place the rationale for the determination in the public registry. The full text of the submission, Mexico's responses and the Secretariat's factual record recommendation are available on the CEC web site, at <http://www.cec.org/citizen>.
Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) provides that the CEC Secretariat may consider a submission from any person or nongovernmental organization asserting that a Party to the NAAEC is failing to effectively enforce an 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.
The CEC was established under the 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 of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Please visit the Citizen Submission on Enforcement Matters page for more information.
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