Regulatory cooperation: It's always about business priorities

[Stuart Trew]

Possibly of limited interest to this group, but Canada's Treasury Board Secretariat, which is responsible for all national and international regulatory cooperation initiatives (including in CETA), has just put out this notice for input on inter-provincial regulatory reconciliation activities.

This paragraph, for me, sums up everything wrong with such trade-related cooperation, and says a lot about the Canadian government's priorities in CETA:

"Regulatory reconciliation is an outcome whereby an existing regulatory measure no longer acts as a barrier to trade, investment or labour mobility in Canada. Reconciliation can be achieved in a number of ways, including through mutual recognition, harmonization of requirements, equivalency, or some other method."

Translated: Canada is not interested in hearing about areas where reconciliation would serve a different public purpose other than to facilitate trade.

Cheers,

Stuart Trew, CCPA

TREASURY BOARD SECRETARIAT

Notice to interested parties — Consultation on regulatory reconciliation and cooperation

The Government of Canada is seeking suggestions for regulatory reconciliation and cooperation to support its participation in the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) Regulatory Reconciliation and Cooperation Table (RCT).

The CFTA entered into force on July 1, 2017, replacing the Agreement on Internal Trade. It seeks to eliminate regulatory barriers that impede trade within Canada. The CFTA establishes a regulatory reconciliation process that will help to address barriers to trade resulting from differences in existing regulations that Canadians, businesses and other stakeholders may experience when doing business across provincial and territorial borders. The CFTA also supports regulatory cooperation on the joint development of future regulatory measures. The RCT is a federal-provincial-territorial body established by the CFTA to oversee the regulatory reconciliation process and promote regulatory cooperation across Canada. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat represents the Government of Canada on the RCT.

Canadians, businesses and other stakeholders are encouraged to submit suggestions for regulatory reconciliation and regulatory cooperation items for federal consideration, to possibly bring forward to the RCT. Suggestions for regulatory reconciliation should focus on existing federal regulations that act as a barrier to trade, investment or labour mobility within Canada. Suggestions for regulatory cooperation should highlight areas where governments could cooperate in the development of future regulations, in order to facilitate innovation, competition and growth in emerging industries, technologies and sectors.

We invite interested Canadians to send suggestions to rcc...@tbs-sct.gc.ca by December 4, 2017. In addition to this opportunity, please note that provinces and territories are conducting their own engagement processes to identify items to bring forward for regulatory reconciliation and cooperation. All suggestions that Canada receives will be shared with provincial and territorial representatives to the RCT. Based on the submissions each jurisdiction receives, the RCT will prioritize all items and create an annual work plan. Therefore, any information that you do not wish to be shared with other parties, such as confidential business information or other sensitive information, should be clearly marked “confidential.” All information marked “confidential,” whether it be an entire submission or a part thereof, will not be shared. A summary report of the submissions Canada receives will be published.

All submissions are welcome. However, the Government of Canada encourages inclusion of the following elements in submissions:

1. An overview of the regulatory issue;
2. The Canadian context surrounding the issue;
3. Objectives of the submission;
4. Prioritization of initiatives, if more than one is proposed;
5. Impact on consumers, industry and others, quantified if possible; and
6. Degree of support amongst provinces and territories, if known.

For further information on best practices for developing submissions focused on regulatory cooperation, please visit the following website: www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/corporate/transparency/acts-regulations/canada-us-regulatory-cooperation-council/stakeholder-submissions.html.

Additional background information

Regulatory reconciliation is an outcome whereby an existing regulatory measure no longer acts as a barrier to trade, investment or labour mobility in Canada. Reconciliation can be achieved in a number of ways, including through mutual recognition, harmonization of requirements, equivalency, or some other method.

Under the CFTA, regulatory cooperation is differentiated from regulatory reconciliation and refers to the joint development of future regulatory measures. Regulatory cooperation under the RCT will support and equip governments to develop common regulatory approaches for emerging sectors or issues.

The Government of Canada welcomes submissions on both regulatory reconciliation and regulatory cooperation.

For more information on the work of the RCT, please see the CFTA regulatory reconciliation and cooperation website at www.cfta-alec.ca/regulatory-reconciliation-cooperation/. Contact information for RCT representatives can be found at www.cfta-alec.ca/contact-us/rct-representatives/.

October 27, 2017

Contact information

Brennen Young
Director
Regulatory Cooperation
Regulatory Affairs Sector
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Email: rcc...@tbs-sct.gc.ca