MEXICO-UNITED STATES: AGREEMENT TO COOPERATE IN THE SOLUTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL
PROBLEMS IN THE BORDER AREA*
*Reproduced from the text provided by the U.S. Department of State.
The Memorandum of Understanding, referred to in Article 23 and which this Agreement
supersedes, is reproduced at 17 I.L.M. 1056 (1978).
An agreement between Canada and the United States concerning acid rain research appears at
I.L.M. page 1017.
PUBLICATION DATE: August 14, 1983, Done at La Paz, Baja California, Mexico; February 16, 1984,
entered into force
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE UNITED MEXICAN
STATES ON COOPERATION FOR THE PROTECTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT IN
THE BORDER AREA
The United States of America and the United Mexican States,
RECOGNIZING the importance of a healthful environment to the long-term economic and social
well-being of present and future generations of each country as well as of the global community;
RECALLING that the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment,
proclaimed in Stockholm in 1972, called upon nations to collaborate to resolve environmental problems of
common concern;
NOTING previous agreements and programs providing for environmental cooperation between
the two countries;
BELIEVING that such cooperation is of mutual benefit in coping with similar environmental
problems in each country;
ACKNOWLEDGING the important work of the International Boundary and Water Commission and
the contribution of the agreements concluded between the two countries relating to environmental affairs;
REAFFIRMING their political will to further strengthen and demonstrate the importance attached
by both Governments to cooperation on environmental protection and in furtherance of the principle of
good neighborliness;
Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1
The United States of America and the United Mexican States, hereinafter referred to as the Parties,
agree to cooperate in the field of environmental protection in the border area on the basis of equality,
reciprocity and mutual benefit. The objectives of the present Agreement are to establish the basis for
cooperation between the Parties for the protection, improvement and conservation of the environment and
the problems which affect it, as well as to agree on necessary measures to prevent and control pollution in
the border area, and to provide the framework for development of a system of notification for emergency
situations. Such objectives shall be pursued without prejudice to the cooperation which the Parties may
agree to undertake outside the border area.
ARTICLE 2
The Parties undertake, to the fullest extent practical, to adopt the appropriate measures to
prevent, reduce and eliminate sources of pollution in their respective territory which affect the border
area of the other.
Additionally, the Parties shall cooperate in the solution of the environmental problems of
mutual concern in the border area, in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement.
ARTICLE 3
Pursuant to this Agreement, the Parties may conclude specific arrangements for the solution of
common problems in the border area, which may be annexed thereto. Similarly, the Parties may also agree
upon annexes to this Agreement on technical matters.
ARTICLE 4
For the purposes of this Agreement, it shall be understood that the "border area" refers to the area
situated 100 kilometers on either side of the inland and maritime boundaries between the Parties.
ARTICLE 5
The Parties agree to coordinate their efforts, in conformity with their own national legislation and
existing bilateral agreements to address problems of air, land and water pollution in the border area.
ARTICLE 6
To implement this Agreement, the Parties shall consider and, as appropriate, pursue in a
coordinated manner practical, legal, institutional and technical measures for protecting the quality of the
environmental in the border area. Forms of cooperation may include: coordination of national programs;
scientific and educational exchanges; environmental monitoring; environmental impact assessment; and
periodic exchanges of information and data on likely sources of pollution in their respective territory which
may produce environmentally polluting incidents, as defined in an annex to this Agreement.
ARTICLE 7
The Parties shall assess, as appropriate, in accordance with their respective national laws,
regulations and policies, projects that may have significant impacts on the environment of the border area,
so that appropriate measures may be considered to avoid or mitigate adverse environmental effects.
ARTICLE 8
Each Party designates a national coordinator whose principal functions will be to coordinate and
monitor implementation of this Agreement, make recommendations to the Parties, and organize the
annual meetings referred to in Article 10, and the meetings of the experts referred to in Article 11. Additional
responsibilities of the national coordinators may be agreed to in an annex to this Agreement.
In the case of the United States of America the national coordinator shall the Environmental
Protection Agency, and in the case of Mexico it shall be the Secretaria de Desarrollo Urbano y Ecologia,
through the Subsecretaria de Ecologia.
ARTICLE 9
Taking into account the subjects to be examined jointly, the national coordinators may invite, as
appropriate, representantives of federal, state and municipal governments to participate in the meetings
provided for in this Agreement. By mutual agreement they may also invite representatives of
international governmental or non-governmental organizations who may be able to contribute some element
of expertise on problems to be solved.
The national coordinators will determine by mutual agreement the form and manner of participation
of non-governmental entities.
ARTICLE 10
The Parties shall hold at a minimum an annual high level meeting to review the manner in which this
Agreement is being implemented. These meetings shall take place alternately in the border area of Mexico
and the United States of America.
The composition of the delegations which represent each Party, both in these annual meetings as
well as in the meetings of experts referred to in Article 11 will be communicated to the other Party through
diplomatic channels.
ARTICLE 11
The Parties may, as they deem necessary, convoke meetings of experts for the purposes of
coordinating their national programs referred to in Article 6, and of preparing the drafts of the specific
arrangements and technical annexes referred to in Article 3.
These meetings of experts may review technical subjects. The opinions of the experts in such
meetings shall be communicated by them to the national coordinators, and will serve to advise the
Parties on technical matters.
ARTICLE 12
Each Party shall ensure that its national coordinator is informed of activities of its cooperating
agencies carried out under this Agreement. Each Party shall also ensure that its national coordinator is
informed of the implementation of other agreements concluded between the two Governments
concerning matters related to this Agreement. The national coordinators of bo Parties will present to the
annual meetings a report on the environmental aspects of all joint work conducted under this
Agreement and on implementation of other relevant agreements between the Parties, both bilateral and
multilateral.
Nothing in this Agreement shall prejudice or otherwise affect the functions entrusted to the
International Boundary and Water Commission, in accordance with the Water Treaty of 1944.
ARTICLE 13
Each Party shall be responsible for informing its border states and for consulting them in
accordance with their respective constitutional systems, in relation to matters covered by this
Agreement.
ARTICLE 14
Unless otherwise agreed, each Party shall bear the cost of its participation in the implementation of
this Agreement, including the expenses of personnel who participate in any activity undertaken on the basis
of it.
For the training of personnel, the transfer of equipment and the construction of installations related
to the implementation of this Agreement, the Parties may agree on a special modality of financing, taking
into account the objectives defined in this Agreement.
ARTICLE 15
The Parties shall facilitate the entry of equipment and personnel related to this Aqreement, subject
to the laws and regulations of the receiving country.
In order to undertake the monitoring of polluting activities in the border area, the Parties shall
undertake consultations relating to the measurement and analysis of polluting elements in the border area.
ARTICLE 16
All technical information obtained through the implementation of this Agreement will be
available to both Parties. Such information may be made available to third parties by the mutual
agreement of the Parties to this Agreement.
ARTICLE 17
Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to prejudice other existing or future agreements
concluded between the two Parties, or affect the rights and obligations of the Parties under international
agreements to which they are a party.
ARTICLE 18
Activities under this Agreement shall be subject to the availability of funds and other resources to
each Party and to the applicable laws and regulations in each country.
ARTICLE 19
The present Agreement shall enter into force upon an exchange of Notes stating that each Party
has completed its necessary internal procedures.
ARTICLE 20
The present Agreement shall remain in force indefinitely unless one of the Parties notifies the
other, through diplomatic channels, of its desire to denounce it, in which case the Agreement will
terminate six months after the date of such written notification. Unless otherwise agreed, such
termination shall not affect the validity of any arrangements made under this Agreement.
ARTICLE 21
This Agreement may be amended by the agreement of the Parties.
ARTICLE 22
The adoption of the annexes and of the specific arrangements provided for in Article 3, and the
amendments thereto, will be effected by an exchange of Notes.
ARTICLE 23
This Agreement supersedes the exchange of Notes, concluded on June 19, 1978 with the attached
Memorandum of Understanding between the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States and the
Subsecretariat for Environmental Improvement of Mexico for Cooperation on Environmental Programs and
Transboundary Problems.
DONE in duplicate, in the city of La Paz, Baja California, Mexico, on the 14th of August of 1983, in
the English and Spanish languages, both texts being equally authentic.
signature
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
signature
UNITED MEXICAN STATES:
