| Montreal, 1/03/2004 – By notice posted today, the Secretariat of North America's Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) is seeking information from the public for use in preparation of a factual record on Canada's alleged failure to effectively enforce provisions of the federal Fisheries Act and the federal Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations in connection with ten pulp and paper mills in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. The notice has been posted on the CEC's web site <http://www.cec.org>. The Secretariat will accept information until 30 June 2004.
The allegations were made in the Pulp and Paper submission (SEM-02-003), filed with the CEC in May 2002. On 11 December 2003, the Council instructed the Secretariat to prepare a factual record with regard to ten of the pulp and paper mills identified in the submission.
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 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 top environment officials of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Please visit the Citizen Submission on Enforcement Matters page for more information. |
