NOVEDADES


Published Monthly by the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade Vol. 3, No. 5 -- May 1996
© 1996 - NLCIFT ISSN 1078-2028
Committee Drafts Recommendations on Hazardous Waste Management
Government, academic, private sector and NGO decision-makers from both the U.S. and Mexico gathered on April 10-12 in Tucson, Arizona, to hammer out recommendations on how to implement responsible hazardous waste policies and practices between the two countries; it was the second meeting of the Committee for Responsible Waste Management in North America (HAZNA).
The HAZNA committee was formed in the fall of 1995 by the National Law Center and its Mexican counterpart, the Centro Jurídico para el Comercio Interamericano (JURICI). One of the goals is to develop and promote viable policies for responsible waste management in North America through public participation and respect for national sovereignty.
During the two-day meeting, participants exchanged information on the disparities between law and practice in the management and cross-border movement of hazardous waste. Presentations included an overview of the soon-to-be-implemented hazardous waste inspection practices by U.S. Customs at the Nogales port of entry, an overview of insurance policies covering environmental claims in Mexico, a presentation of cross-border emergency response coordinating, a presentation on the status of the international environmental certification ISO 14001 as it relates to hazardous waste generation, and a presentation on mechanisms to facilitate small business compliance with environmental regulations.
After the first morning session, participants formed working groups to address specific policy areas, such as hazardous waste transportation and customs procedures, governmental enforcement and civil liability, permitting and financing of treatment, storage, disposal infrastructure in Mexico, the effects of NAFTA on hazardous waste management, and maquiladoras.
Recommendations made during the meeting will be synthesized into a document that will be presented to state and federal Mexican and U.S. officials in Tucson in the latter half of June. The next meeting of the HAZNA committee will take place in March 1997 in Monterrey, Mexico. Overview of the recommendations will be provided in the next issue of Novedades.
The National Law Center and JURICI would like to express their thanks to Metalclad Corporation and Chemical Transportation, Inc., for their generous support of the HAZNA project. The National Law Center would also like to thank the following groups and individuals for their assistance with the HAZNA meeting and recent project phase: Arizona Toxics Information,the Border Ecology Project, Carter Affiliates, Miguel Arriaga, Dr. Alberto Bustani, Carlos Bejar, John Bernardo, Luis Carranza, Roger Cutler and Joe Agosttini, C. Foster Knight, Josh Sarnoff and Luis Wolf.

Intellectual Property Committee to Tackle Software Piracy in the NAFTA Region

Protection and enforcement of copyright, patents, trademark and trade secret in the NAFTA region will be the focus of the first meeting of the National Law Center’s Intellectual Property Committee, to be held in Tucson on May 20-21.
The National Law Center formed the tri-national committee this year in response to growing concerns regarding the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights among the NAFTA countries, and especially in Mexico. According to many experts, software piracy is a flourishing activity in Mexico, resulting in financial losses for foreign companies working in the country. Business Software Alliance, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group for U.S. software firms, estimated that software piracy amounted to US $162.4 million in losses for U.S. companies alone in 1994.
Composed of intellectual property experts drawn from the government and private sectors of Canada, Mexico and the U.S., the committee works as a discussion forum. One of its goals is to harmonize intellectual property protection throughout the NAFTA region in accordance with NAFTA standards. Committee’s members are expected to draft recommendations on how to change the related laws of the three countries and present them to officials of the respective governments in 1997.
Participants will include Lee Schroeder, from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Robert Sherwood, an international business counselor, Jorge Amigo, director of the Mexican Industrial Property Institute, Richard Neff, counselor for the Business Software Alliance, and Adriana Bracho, from the Secretaría de Comercio y Fomento Industrial.
For more information on the meeting or to receive a detailed agenda of the conference, please contact project coordinator Christina Moeckel at (520) 622-1200.

A G E N D A

Dr. Boris Kozolchyk will be keynote speaker at the Trinational Congress organized by the University of Sonora, to be held in Hermosillo, Sonora, on May 2-4. Entitled “Two Years of NAFTA in the Balance, Is it Worth it?”, the conference will offer reflections on the NAFTA agreement two years after its application. Workshops will cover foreign investment, transborder movements of goods and services, environmental cooperation, labor cooperation and international contracting. Dr. Kozolchyk will give a speech on “The Union of Antagonistic Legal Systems: Transparency and Homogenation.”

Dr. Boris Kozolchyk will represent Arizona at the 14th Border Governor’s Conference to be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on May 30-31, among other experts and state officials. The conference, which used to be a large, public event, is now limited to the 10 border governors, their permanent representatives and subject matter experts. Topics to be addressed this year during the conference include border crossings, border environmental controls, U.S. consular posts in Mexico and non-tariff trade barriers.

Sponsors Adopt Real Estate Projects

The National Law Center would like to express its thanks to Stewart Title Guaranty Company and First American Title for their generous support of the real estate financing project. Both companies have contributed $10,000 to the project.
The focus of the project is to conduct a comparative study of real estate security devices in use in the U.S. and Mexico and to make recommendations for the standardization of the real property secured financing laws in the two countries. Unlike the U.S. and Canada, the Mexican legal system does not provide for a uniform security device which would establish a basis for the creation of a secondary mortgage market.
The National Law Center is actively recruiting sponsors and participants with expertise in the areas of real property secured financing in the U.S. or Mexico. Presently, $20,000 has been raised and a total of $50,000 is needed to begin the work.
The National Law Center would also like to acknowledge to the Arizona Department of Real Estate, the Arizona Association of Realtors, Bank One of America, N.A., and Snell and Wilmer for their contributions to the real estate licensing project.
The Sonoran Government is currently reviewing and reworking draft legislation prepared by the National Law Center in order to create a system for the licensing and regulation of real estate brokers.
For more information on the real estate financing project and the real estate licensing project, please contact Lisa Larkin at (520) 622-1200.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

MAY 8, WASHINGTON D.C.
Forecast on Latin America, a Business Perspective
This conference will focus on telecommunications, infrastructure and financial /capital markets. Contact: Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America, (202) 463-5485; fax: (202) 463-3126.

MAY 13-14, MEXICO CITY
The Mexico Gaming Summit and Conference
The two-day conference will address issues such as joint-ventures and laws regulating the gaming industry in Mexico. Contact: 1 (800) 608-9641 ( inside the U.S.) or 1 (714) 443-3735 (outside the U.S.)

MAY 17-18, NEW ORLEANS
Summit of the Americas
Contact: Office of Communications, New Orleans, (504) 565-6580.

MAY 30-31, WASHINGTON D.C.
Tracking Cargo by Linking GPS with Communication Networks Contact: Beth Kallman, (212) 661-3500, ext. 3820.

JUNE 3-4, 1996, HOUSTON
Logistics Management in the Oil and Gas Industry
Organized by the Institute for International Research (IIR), the conference will address recent changes in NAFTA requirement on logistics management for the oil and gas industry. Contact: IIR, 1 (800) 999-3123.

NOVEMBER 16-24, SÃO PAULO
AACCLA Mid-Year Meeting 96
This week-long meeting will be looking at business trends in the Americas, with a special emphasis on Mercosul, as well as business opportunities in Brazil. Contact: American Chamber of Commerce, São Paulo, Brazil, +55-11 246.9199; fax: +55-11 246.9080 or +55-11 523.8130.

InterAm Database News

Additional legislation and secondary materials will soon be integrated into the National Law Center InterAm Database, as a result of a cooperation agreement negotiated by the National Law Center.
During a recent trip to Washington D.C., Ms.Yvonne Boyed, InterAm Database editor, received assurance from Dr. Diego Suárez Martinez, director of the Argentinean Ministry of Justice Database Department (SAIJ), that the National Law Center will have free and unlimited access to its legal database.
The National Law Center recently negotiated an agreement with the Argentinean Ministry of Justice which will insure cooperation between the editors of SAIJ’s and the InterAm Database's (see Novedades March 1996). SAIJ has developed an extensive collection of Argentinean and Mercosur legal materials, including statutes, court decisions and administrative regulations.
As a result of the agreement, the InterAm Database will soon include several key statutes and regulations pertaining to Argentinean law and regulations. It includes consumer protection, economic development, intellectual and industrial property, financing of housing and construction, social security, and business associations. In addition, the InterAm Database staff will offer assistance to subscribers with specific requests for hard-to-find documents from Argentina.
Ms. Boyed also met with Luz Sadak, head legal librarian of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Ms. Sadak expressed the need to consolidate legal information from Latin American countries. She also commended the National Law Center’s work in collecting these materials in electronic format.
Several hard-copy documents on foreign investment in Colombia, Chile and Argentina published by IDB are now available through the National Law Center. They include: For a detailed list of available documents and translations, please contact Yvonne Boyed at (520) 622- 1200.

Mexico’s New Customs Law Out soon in English

The English translation of Mexico’s new customs law (Ley Aduanera ) will be available sometime this summer. Published in the Diario Oficial on December 15, 1995, the new law took effect April 1. For a copy in Spanish or to order an English translation, please call 1-800-LAW-FIND.

NAFTA Resources Guide Available

The InterAm Database recently compiled a Resources Guide for Legal Information related to NAFTA and Latin America. The 31-page looseleaf booklet offers a select bibliography of NAFTA and trade law-related books and articles, organized under sections such as antitrust and competition laws, GATT, telecommunications, oil, gas and energy, product liability, environment, and intellectual property. It also contains a list of contacts for information on NAFTA. Members and subscribers may request a free copy. Others, please contact George Arden to order ($5).

Media Coverage

A review of news articles which mention the National Law Center

NOVEDADES
Vol. 3, No.5
Editor:
Virginie Drujon-Kippelen
Contributing Editors: Kathleen Stanton, Yvonne Boyed
Novedades is published monthly by the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade, a non-profit research and educational institution whose purpose is to facilitate trade and investment by standardizing key trade and investment documents and harmonizing trade and investment law.
To have your name added or removed from Novedades mailing list, please contact Virginie Drujon- Kippelen at the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade, 111 S. Church Ave., Suite 200, Tucson, AZ 85701-1602. Tel: (520) 622-1200; Fax: (520) 622-0957; E-mail: natlaw@ccit.arizona.edu; Internet: http://www.natlaw.com