Transboundary Environmental Impact Assessments (TEIA) Agreement
The United States, Canada, and Mexico are negotiating a trilateral agreement on TEIA
through the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Commission on Environmental
Cooperation (CEC). The CEC deals with a wide range of environmental and natural
resource protection issues common to Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
Developing a TEIA process is one of the requirements of the 1991 North American Agreement
on Environmental Cooperation.
For purposes of this agreement, a transboundary environmental impact means any impact
on the environment within the area under the jurisdiction of Canada, the United States, or
Mexico caused by a proposed project the physical origin of which is situated wholly or in
part within the area under the jurisdiction of one of the other of the three countries.
For example, a proposed project on the United States OCS which, because of ocean
currents, winds, or proximity to the Mexican coastline, could affect Mexican waters
(fishing industry, fish resources, etc.) or the Mexican coastline (oil spill contacts,
etc.) would be a project considered to have the potential to cause transboundary
environmental impacts.
The agreement recognizes that there is a significant bilateral nature to many
transboundary issues and calls upon the three countries to develop an agreement to:
