Bringing the enforcement facts to light

In the current global political economy, the role of civil society in promoting justice, equity, and social and environmental conditions conducive to a decent quality of human life is of great and growing importance. But to do their work, civil society organizations need certain tools, and they rely on governments to make sure these tools are available and accessible.

One such tool is CEC's process for Citizen Submissions on Enforcement Matters. It, like CEC itself, was established in response to public concern about the effects that free trade could have on the environment. A particular worry was that governments could be tempted to relax their enforcement of environmental legislation in order to achieve competitive advantages for their domestic industries, leading to the emergence of "pollution havens." Civil society called for a means by which the public could "blow the whistle" on failures to enforce legislation effectively, and thus the Citizen Submissions Process was written into the NAFTA environmental side accord (the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, which sets forth the process in its Articles 14 and 15).

Under this mechanism, any individual or nongovernmental organization may bring to the attention of CEC allegations of a government's failure to enforce environmental legislation effectively. If the submission makes a strong case it can, with approval of the CEC Council, lead to an investigation of the matter by CEC and the publication of findings in a factual record. CEC can not impose fines or penalties or in any way compel a government to improve its enforcement activities. But by making the facts part of the public record, it is helping to fuel the democratic process of change.

After five years of operation, during which time CEC has processed almost 30 submissions, there have emerged differences of opinion among the three Parties to CEC-Canada, Mexico and the United States-over exactly how the mechanism should be implemented. Attempts by the Parties themselves to resolve these differences failed to produce the agreement they had hoped for. Key advocates of the mechanism, particularly in the environmental community, were worried that without public discussion of these issues, this crucial tool could be constrained to the point of ineffectiveness. Following some intensive discussions among all concerned, an agreement was reached at the June 2000 Regular Session of the CEC Council in Dallas that JPAC would be enlisted to help resolve any such issues involving differences among the Parties or others concerning the elaboration and implementation of the Citizen Submissions Process.

JPAC is an independent, 15-member body of volunteers established to consult with the public and advise the CEC Council on any aspect of the work of the Commission. By Resolution 00-09, the Council instructed JPAC to establish a means by which the public could bring issues concerning the implementation of the Citizen Submissions Process to the attention of JPAC which would, in turn, inform Council of the issues raised. The Council would then have the option of referring any or all of those issues to JPAC for advice, the development of which would involve consultation with the public. Any issues concerning the future of the Citizen Submissions Process referred to JPAC would be dealt with in an entirely open and transparent way and enjoy public participation in the development of advice to Council.

A draft outline of this referral process was prepared by JPAC and made available to the public for comment in July. Comments must be received by 22 September 2000. We are planning a public workshop on this subject to take place during the next regular session of JPAC on 13-14 October in Washington, DC. For information on registering for this session, please consult the CEC web site at <http://www.cec.org/jpac>.

As well, we are asking for comments from the public on the history of the Citizen Submissions Process, with a view to identifying lessons learned. We are also planning two public workshops, one on 7 December 2000, in Montreal, and the second in June 2001 in Mexico. Following this public consultation JPAC will present a report to Council in fall of 2001.

I hope that everyone who shares my conviction that the Citizen Submissions Process is a crucial component-not just of the work of CEC but of NAFTA in general-will get involved in this process. We must remember that the major complaint of the people in the streets of Seattle late last year was that their exclusion from the decision-making process on trade-related issues could have far-reaching implications for the social and environmental conditions in which we all live. The Citizen Submissions Process is truly a unique opportunity-the only such mechanism relating to any trade agreement in the world-and we in civil society must do our part to make it work.

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Other articles for fall 2000

Tracking dioxins to the Arctic

Assessing the environmental effects of free trade

Millennium Trek and NAFEC

Bringing the enforcement facts to light

The power of pollutant information

Reducing mercury in the North American environment

Helping industry improve its environmental performance

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