Culminating a yearlong consultation, an advisory panel to the Montreal-based Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has suggested changes to the tri-national body’s controversial citizen-complaints procedure. Under Articles 14 and 15 of the environmental side-accord to the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), citizens’ groups in a Nafta country may complain to the CEC secretariat about failures by their government to enforce environmental laws. But the so-called citizen submissions process, which has no teeth other than to generate negative publicity for governments over alleged enforcement lapses, has drawn criticism. Much of it centers on the fact that the CEC’s Secretariat, or administrative arm, makes no concrete findings and recommendations in these cases—only a recitation of facts. Now the CEC advisory... [Log in to read more]