Regulatory Cooperation Council

Canada and U.S. agree on Joint Action Plans to boost security, trade and travel

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama announced today that Canada and the United States have agreed to implement two action plans designed to speed up legitimate trade and travel, improve security in North America, and align regulatory approaches between the two countries.
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On February 4, 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and United States President Barack Obama announced the creation of the Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) to better align the two countries’ regulatory approaches, where possible. 

On June 1, 2011, Canada and the United States agreed to Terms of Reference outlining the mandate, principles and organization of the work to be performed by the RCC and invited input from a range of stakeholders to inform the RCC’s work going forward.  This input resulted in the August 2011 release of the RCC’s consultations summary report, which was key in developing the initial Canada-United States RCC Joint Action Plan released by Prime Minister Harper and President Obama on December 7, 2011. 

The RCC Joint Action Plan is an important step in the ongoing process of regulatory cooperation between Canada and the United States.  Joint Action Plan work is being undertaken in the areas of agriculture and food, transportation, health and personal care products and workplace chemicals, the environment and two cross-sectoral areas – nanotechnology and small business lens. 

Bilateral working groups are leading the implementation of initiatives identified in the Joint Action Plan, and are developing work plans which detail concrete objectives, deliverables and milestones for tangible progress within the RCC’s two-year mandate.