Mexico

AuthorDaniel Basurto González
Pages349-364
CHAPTER 19
Mexico
DANIEL BASURTO GONZÁLEZ*
I. General Overview of the Environmental
Law of Mexico
A. Constitutional Legal Framework
Mexico’s legal system stems from the civil law tradition and therefore is a
system of positive law. Thus, the Mexican legal system is based in written
laws, regulations, and other legal provisions, created by the legislature (Fed-
eral Congress) and applicable in the Mexican territory. After the entry into
force of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a third-party
verification system1 and system of conformity assessment were incorporated
into the Mexican legal system.
The constitutional supremacy doctrine governs the Mexican legal sys-
tem. Under Article 133 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican
States, the constitution is the supreme law in the Mexican territory, along
with the laws enacted by the Federal Congress and all treaties consistent
with the constitution.2 The Mexican Constitution establishes that all individ-
uals located in the Mexican territory are entitled to a list of guarantees,
including the right to a healthy environment.3 This right to a healthy envi-
ronment was the result of one of the many reforms of the Mexican Constitu-
tion, a living document.
B. Constitutional Provisions on Environmental Law
As the supreme governing legal instrument, all existing general and federal
legal provisions flow from the Mexican Constitution. Thus, the Mexican
Constitution establishes the constitutional grounds from which all the envi-
ronmental legal provisions in force in the Mexican territory derive. These
constitutional grounds include Article 4, regarding the right to a healthy
environment; Article 27, regarding rules regarding natural resources con-
servation; Article 73, regarding the prevention and control of pollution,
*The author appreciates the contribution of Regina Gallegos Triana on this chapter.
349
specifically in subsection XVI, fourth part; and Article 25, regarding envi-
ronmental protection of productive resources when incentivizing private
sector development.
The standards of environmental protection in the Mexican Constitution
have increased over the years in response to developments from several
international summits. Three major reforms have significantly shaped the
constitutional bases of Mexican environmental law.
The first reform took place in 1987, with the inclusion of the federal gov-
ernment’s duty to preserve and restore ecological balance in Article 27, and
the grant to the Federal Congress of the power to legislate on environmental
matters in Article 73, paragraph 29(c). The second reform took place in 2010,
with the recognition in Article 17 of “collective actions” (class actions), which
are expected to have significant impacts on environmental regulation. The
most recent reform took place in 2012, when Article 4 was rephrased to rec-
ognize the right to a healthy environment and the right of access to water
and sanitation, and to establish the federal government’s duty to guarantee
these rights and take actions to achieve these ends.4
C. International Environmental Instruments
In international fora, Mexico is one of the most active and prolific nations in
terms of instruments signed and ratified. To date, Mexico is party to more
than 70 international environmental treaties. In some of these treaties, such
and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of
Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (Basel Convention), among others,
Mexico has participated quite actively.
According to the Mexican Constitution, international treaties must be
consistent with it as the supreme law and must be approved and ratified by
the Senate. According to public international law, treaties bind state parties,
but not individuals (i.e., citizens). As a result, once a state has signed a treaty,
it is that state’s obligation to enact pertinent laws to implement the provi-
sions agreed to in a given treaty.
Mexico is party to various bilateral and multilateral international envi-
ronmental instruments. In the bilateral sphere, NAFTA is one of the most
influential in environmental matters. Although it is a trade agreement in
principle, it includes relevant environment provisions to be fulfilled by the
parties. Additionally, it creates a Commission for Environmental Coopera-
tion (CEC) consisting of a council, a secretariat, and a Joint Public Advisory
Committee (JPAC). The objective of the CEC is to increase cooperation
among the parties (United States, Canada, and Mexico). However, in practice
the CEC has served only to monitor what is occurring in the three member
countries, without any further significant accomplishments to date.
Multilateral treaties, such as the Basel Convention, the Vienna Conven-
tion for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and its Protocol on Substances
That Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent
Organic Pollutants, Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent
350 INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

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