Canada-Peru environment agreement

Agreement on the Environment between Canada and the Republic of Peru

Key Elements of the Environment Agreement

Under the Canada-Peru Environment Agreement, the countries commit to:

• ensure that their laws and policies provide for high levels of environmental protection;
• effectively enforce their environmental laws;
• not relax their environmental laws in order to encourage trade or investment;
• ensure that procedures for environmental impact assessment are maintained;
• promote trade and investment in environmental goods and services;
• ensure that proceedings are available to provide sanctions or remedies for violations of their environmental laws;
• promote public awareness of environmental laws and policies;
• promote the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity;
• respect, preserve and maintain traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities; and
• encourage voluntary best practices of corporate social responsibility.

The Environment Agreement also includes enforcement and complaint mechanisms, which:

• allow any Canadian or Peruvian to submit a written question to either country regarding any obligation under the Agreement;
• provide that any Canadian or Peruvian can request an investigation of alleged violations of environmental laws in his or her country; and
• establish a dispute resolution mechanism to address any matter that may arise under the Agreement.

The Environment Agreement further creates a framework to undertake environmental cooperative activities.

For more information on the Environment Agreement, please refer to the Summary of the Canada-Peru Environment Agreement.

Environment Elements in the FTA

The FTA itself also includes environment provisions and an Environment chapter that:

• recognize the need to implement the FTA in a manner consistent with environmental protection and conservation and the sustainable use of their resources;
• stipulate that, in the case of inconsistent obligations, Multilateral Environmental Agreements that both countries have signed and ratified (e.g., Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer) prevail over the FTA;
• require that the countries not weaken domestic health, safety or environmental measures to encourage investment;
• allow the countries to take certain necessary measures to protect human, animal and plant life or health which may be inconsistent with trade or investment obligations; and
• commit the Commission established under the FTA to consider reports and recommendations from the Committee on the Environment, in respect of any trade and environment-related issues.

Committee and Cooperative Activities

The implementation of the Canada-Peru Environment Agreement is overseen by a Committee on the Environment, made up of government officials from both countries.

The Committee is responsible for deciding on priority areas and creating a work program of environment-related cooperative activities. The activities may be carried out through technical (e.g., training) and/or financial cooperation.

The first work program between Canada and Peru is under development.  The priority themes include:

• Restoration of degraded ecosystems.
• Systemizing environment information
• Integrated chemicals management

Related Document

• Record of Decision of the first Canada-Peru Committee on the Environment meeting (November 24-25, 2009) (HTML | Word 55 KB)

Reports and Publications

• Initial Environmental Assessment Report--Canada-Andean Community Free Trade Negotiations (January 2008) (HTML | PDF, 267 kb)
• Final Environmental Assessment of the Canada-Colombia and Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Negotiations 

Other Interesting Links

• Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement
  • Environment Fact Sheet (HTML | PDF, 151 kb)
• Canada-Peru Agreement on Labour Cooperation
• Peru Ministry of Environment