Environmental provisions in the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) ensure enforcement of environmental laws through an innovative public submission process and a procedure for fines and sanctions of countries that fail to enforce their own laws. DR-CAFTA also requires countries to respect multilateral environmental agreements and to agree not to weaken their environmental laws. In addition, DR-CAFTA provides a mechanism for environmental capacity building and creates an environmental cooperation commission. These provisions represent the most advanced environmental provisions ever included in a trade agreement.

DR-CAFTA has innovative mechanisms for strengthening environmental protection and ensuring enforcement of environmental laws.

• DR-CAFTA contains groundbreaking environmental provisions that go far beyond previous free trade agreements in empowering citizens to enforce environmental laws and in creating mechanisms to improve environmental protection.
• Article 17.7 of DR-CAFTA creates a citizen submission process that allows any citizen of a DR-CAFTA member country to file a complaint alleging that a country is not enforcing its environmental laws. The procedure requires parties to respond to citizen allegations and provides for an environmental secretariat to develop a factual record regarding the allegation. These citizen submission procedures are similar to those found in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) environmental side agreement, and they have never before been included in the text of a trade agreement.
• DR-CAFTA also contains a section on voluntary mechanisms to enhance environmental performance. This innovative section requires parties to encourage voluntary performance guidelines; information sharing; and the development of incentives, such as market-based programs, to encourage conservation and protection of the environment.
• DR-CAFTA also includes an environmental cooperation agreement that provides a framework for undertaking environmental capacity building in DR-CAFTA countries and establishes an Environmental Cooperation Commission. Again, DR-CAFTA goes beyond previous trade agreements in creating innovative capacity-building, cooperation and informationsharing frameworks.
• Finally, DR-CAFTA contains an explicit recognition of multilateral environmental agreements and requires parties to enhance the mutual supportiveness of trade agreements and environmental agreements.
• Together, these provisions give DR-CAFTA the most comprehensive environmental provisions ever included in a trade agreement.

DR-CAFTA’s environment provisions satisfy congressional negotiating objectives.

• DR-CAFTA fulfills the letter and spirit of the negotiating objectives set forth by Congress in the Trade Act of 2002.
• Congress called on the president to ensure that trade partners do not weaken their environmental laws and that those laws are enforced effectively. DR-CAFTA requires member countries to effectively enforce their environmental laws and provides for dispute settlement proceedings and fines if a country violates that requirement. The agreement contains a groundbreaking citizen submission process that allows citizens of any DR-CAFTA country to make a complaint if they believe a country is not effectively enforcing its environmental laws. In addition, the agreement requires that countries work to ensure that they do not weaken or waive their environmental laws.
• Other key negotiating objectives focus on improving protection of the environment though capacity building and improved government practice. DR-CAFTA includes specific environmental cooperation goals, including improving institutional and legal frameworks, protection of shared migratory species, and various capacity-building and technology-sharing activities. DR-CAFTA also contains an innovative encouragement of voluntary mechanisms to spur improved environmental performance. In addition, DR-CAFTA parties have negotiated an environmental cooperation agreement. The cooperation agreement is aimed at technology and knowledge transfer and partnership programs to improve environmental protection.
• Finally, the goods and services chapters of DR-CAFTA significantly reduce or eliminate barriers to U.S. environmental goods and services in Central America. Improved market access for U.S. environmental technology and services not only increases U.S. exports but also ensures better access to state-of-the-art technology and services in the region.

Increasing prosperity as a result of trade will help improve environmental protection in the region.

• Central America is a region with astounding biodiversity and important world ecosystems. It also is a region suffering from severe poverty and significant environment and public health problems. One important step to improving protection of the environment in Central America is poverty reduction through increased economic growth. Countries with higher national incomes tend to have stronger environmental protections and lower rates of pollution. Liberalized trade through DRCAFTA will produce more and better paying jobs in Central America — and that prosperity will make it possible for the region to improve environmental protection.
• In addition to stimulating economic growth, liberalized trade can help improve environmental protection by lowering the barriers to the sale of environmental technologies; enabling new investments in environmental infrastructure; and making it easier for environmental scientists, engineers and technicians to provide services to the people of Central America. Upon implementation of DR-CAFTA, many American environmental goods will be able to enter the countries of Central America duty free. Restrictions on the provision of environmental services by American companies and individuals similarly will be removed. Improved provision of such goods and services is particularly important for improved public health and environmental protection.

DR-CAFTA's investment provisions do not weaken environmental protections.

• Many critics of DR-CAFTA allege that its investment chapter contains provisions “allowing foreign investors to challenge legitimate laws and regulations and demand monetary compensation for the implementation of legitimate environmental protections.” This simply is not the case. The investment provisions of DR-CAFTA, like those of NAFTA, are designed to protect investors from the discriminatory regulation of investment or uncompensated taking of property. Nothing in the agreement prevents fair, nondiscriminatory environmental regulation. Indeed, the provisions of the environment chapter of DR-CAFTA trump those of Chapter 10 in the case of conflict.