Mexico files response with the CEC Secretariat to the "Hazardous Waste in Arteaga" submission

The submission, filed with the Secretariat on 25 May 2004, asserts that Mexico is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law in relation to various provisions of the General Law on Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection and its hazardous waste regulation by failing to give due process to the Submitters' complaint against the companies Ecolimpio de México, S.A. de C.V. and Transportes J. Guadalupe Jiménez, S.A., whose operation, they argue, causes harm to the environment, their health, and their property.

Mexico responded to the submission with a 77-page document plus appendices, labeling some sections of the response as confidential.

In its response, Mexico maintains that the submission should have been disallowed since the Submitters did not meet the requirements of clearly identifying themselves and including sufficient evidence. It asserts that the Submitters also failed to meet the requirement of pursuing the private remedies available to them under Mexico's law and that the meaning of "private remedies available" includes all means available to private persons to combat failures of law enforcement. Mexico states that a contrary interpretation would be tantamount "to vitiating the jurisdictional institutions of the state parties to the NAAEC." It further asserts that the power of attorney granted by the Submitters to their legal representative and the evidence presented in the submission should have conformed to the provisions of the Federal Code of Civil Procedure and the Civil Code of the State of Coahuila.

Mexico states that, in contravention of NAAEC Article 14(1)(d), the submission seeks to harass two industrial establishments; in demonstration of this, it offers evidence in its response that the legal representative of the Submitters is a competitor of the companies in question. In addition, it asserts that the Submitters argue the failure to enforce the law by the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) despite having full knowledge and clear proof that Profepa took timely action. In demonstration of these assertions, Mexico provides evidence of the process followed and states that the Submission should have been dismissed since there are pending proceedings against the companies in question. Mexico states that matters regarding those pending proceedings must be kept confidential under its Federal Law of Transparency and Access to Public Governmental Information.

In its response, Mexico asserts that the Secretariat lacks the authority to interpret the provisions of NAAEC Articles 14 and 15 and the Guidelines for Submissions on Enforcement Matters and that the Secretariat should not have requested a response to the submission.

The NAAEC requires the Secretariat to determine whether a submission meets the requirements of NAAEC Article 14(1), to decide whether to request a response from the NAAEC party in question, and to notify the Council whether it considers that a submission, in light of any Party response, warrants developing a factual record. In accordance with NAAEC Article 15(1), the Secretariat must now analyze the submission in light of the Mexico's response to determine whether to recommend to Council the development of a factual record.

Of the 47 submissions filed with the Secretariat, 23 have been filed against the government of Mexico, 8 of which are currently active.

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 top environment officials of Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The citizen submissions mechanism of the CEC enables the public to play a whistle-blower role on matters of environmental law enforcement. Under Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), any person or nongovernmental organization may submit a claim alleging that a NAFTA partner has failed to effectively enforce its environmental law. Following a review of the submission, the CEC may investigate the matter and pursue a factual record of its findings.

Please visit the Citizen Submission on Enforcement Matters page for more information.