| Montreal, 1/02/2005 – On 27 January 2005, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) dismissed a citizen submission asserting Mexico's failure to enforce its environmental laws.
Submission SEM-04-001 (Hazardous Waste in Arteaga) was filed by Genaro Meléndez Lugo and José Javier, José Genaro, Miguel Ángel, Carlos Ariel, Juan Antonio, Iris Elidia and Cruz Adriana Meléndez Torres on 27 January 2004. Revised submissions were also filed on 16 March and 25 May 2004, in response to two previous dismissals of the submission. The submission asserts that the Office of the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente—Profepa) did not process a complaint filed by the Submitters on 4 December 2003, against the companies Ecolimpio de México, SA de CV, y Transportes J. Guadalupe Jiménez, SA.
After reviewing Mexico's response to these assertions, the CEC concluded that the submission does not warrant the development of a factual record under Article 15(1) of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC). The CEC found that some of the information, as presented in the submission, was misleading. This information relates to procedural matters with respect to the companies referenced in the submission and to whether the submission is intended to promote the effective enforcement of environmental laws and not to harass a particular business, in that the Submitters or their representatives may be competitors and derive an economic benefit from the processing of the submission. No further details are available, as this information was deemed confidential by the Submitters and by Mexico.
Having determined that the development of a factual record is not warranted, the CEC notified the Submitters and the CEC Council, pursuant to Section 9.6 of the Guidelines, that the process regarding the submission was terminated.
Under Article 14 of the 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 created under the NAAEC to address the three countries' environmental matters from a regional perspective, with special interest in matters arising from trade liberalization. The Council of the CEC—the Commission's governing body—is composed of Secretary-level officials in the environment (or the equivalent thereof) from Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Please visit the Citizen Submissions on Enforcement Matters page for more information.
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