The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) is a trilateral international commission established by Canada, Mexico, and the United States in 1994 to address trans-boundary environmental concerns in North America. The original impetus behind the CEC was the perception of inadequacies in the environmental provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). A supplementary treaty, the North American Agreement for Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) was negotiated to remedy these inadequacies, and it is from the NAAEC that the CEC derives its formal mandate.

The general goals set forth by the NAAEC are to protect, conserve, and improve the environment for the benefit of present and future generations. More specifically, the three NAFTA signatories agreed to a core set of actions and principles with regard to environmental concerns related to trade policy. These actions and principles include regular reporting on the state of the environment...