Panama City, August 23, 2021. On August 20, 2021, Mr. Ricardo Wong Domínguez in his capacity as president and legal representative of the Foundation for the Protection of the Sea, PRO-MAR, present via email to the Secretariat for Submissions on Environmental Enforcement Matters (SEEM) of the Trade Promotion Agreement (US-Panama TPA), in which he assert that the Republic of Panama is failing to effectively implement its environmental legislation.
In the Submission, identified as No. SALA-CA-PMA/002/2021 and titled "Marine Pollution by Hydrocarbons", the submitter Foundation affirms that the government of the Republic of Panama has failed to comply with environmental legislation with regard to the Protocol of 1978, relative to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships and its amendments; Law Decree 7, 1998, article 4, paragraphs 11 and 12; the Single Text of the Environmental General Law 41, 1998, articles 101, 104 and 105; Law 125, 2020, article 5; the Transparency Law, No. 6 January 2002, article 2 and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982, Law 38 June 4, 1996, article 194.
In general, the Submission alleges that in July 2020 a fuel spill in the Rodman Port area was reported in the media and that in June 2021 oil pollution was reported by fishermen in Taboga Island area. That on both occasions the Foundation has requested information on the procedures for addressing spills from the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) in the interest of helping to prevent oil pollution in the marine environment and thus preserve the marine environment. The petitioner asserts that these requests for official information, has not received a substantive response from the Panamanian authorities.
