Since its launch in February 2011, progress under the RCC has been ongoing:
February 4, 2011 –
Washington, DC Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama announced the creation of a U.S.–Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) to better align "regulatory approaches. The goal of regulatory cooperation is to remove unnecessary requirements and align standards. Such differences and duplications slow down trade and investment, limit timely access to products, and add costs to manufacturers and consumers. The RCC's work will focus on addressing these, thus making it easier for Canadian and American firms to do business on both sides of the border." which called on both countries to foster new approaches to regulatory cooperation and serve as a template for future efforts between Canada and the U.S. The initial Joint Action Plan provided an opportunity to enhance Canada-U.S. regulatory cooperation through the identification of specific regulatory issues and challenges that agencies on both sides of the border would work together to resolve or improve. An editorial in
The Globe and Mail praised the agreement for giving Canada the ability to track whether failed refugee claimants have left Canada via the U.S. and for eliminating "duplicated baggage screenings on connecting flights".
May 2012 – Washington, DC President Obama issued Executive Order 13609 Promoting International Regulatory Cooperation, an effort that targets "… strengthening institutional mechanisms for facilitating international regulatory cooperation and reflecting a commitment to regulatory cooperation going forward.”
August 2014 – Canada and the United States released the RCC Joint Forward Plan, which enables a new approach to regulatory cooperation through: new senior level bi-national governance and leadership between federal regulatory partners; the establishment of an RCC specific work planning process; and the creation of new channels for stakeholders to provide input to Canadian and U.S. regulators.
May 2015 – Details of work under the RCC Joint Forward Plan were released via 12 Regulatory Partnership Statements (RPS) between 16 similarly mandated departments and agencies. These federal regulators also released their bi-national work plans that cover regulatory sectors such as health products, food safety, transportation safety, aquaculture, work place safety and environmental initiatives.
June 2015 – Under the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the Regulatory Working Group releases guidelines in support of Executive Order 13609, "Promoting International Regulatory Cooperation". == See also ==