Mexico’s new environmental law: will enforcement be fair?

As discussed in Insurance Day last week (June 5), the new Environmental Law in Mexico, which entered into force in July 2013, created a framework that regulates the liability deriving from pollution to the environment. The law divides the issues of the polluter restoring the natural environment by entrenching the “polluter pays” principle, from civil, administrative and/or criminal liabilities that may be additionally imposed on a polluter. The law brings Mexico, at least on paper, closer to international standards and in line with Mexico’s commitments after its ratification of the Declaration of the United Nations in Rio de Janeiro.