ABSTRACT
Canada, the United States, and the United Mexican States entered into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in December 1992. During the negotiation of the Agreement, there was much public debate about labour market disruptions and the implications of NAFTA on the environment. The level of controversy was unparalleled for a trade negotiation. It led the three governments to include unprecedented provisions in the trade agreement in order to address environmental concerns and to sign two supplemental agreements in September 1993: the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) and the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC). The NAAEC's Articles 14 and 15 citizen submission process was intended to give the public a voice in the enforcement of domestic environmental laws in each of the three countries. Under this process, any resident of North America can assert that any one of the parties has failed to enforce its domestic environmental laws effectively.
