Regulatory Cooperation Forum: Overview

About the Regulatory Cooperation Forum

The Regulatory Cooperation Forum (RCF) is a subcommittee under the Canada-European Union (EU) Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and plays an important role in fostering cooperation between Canadian and EU regulatory authorities. It provides a unique space for experts to identify areas for regulatory cooperation, exchange information and address shared priorities.

The subcommittee is jointly led by Canada, represented by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and Global Affairs Canada, and the EU, represented by the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), and the Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security (DG TRADE).

Participation in the RCF

The RCF supports individual regulators by helping them identify potential partners for cooperation activities and providing appropriate tools to facilitate collaboration.

Participation in the RCF is voluntary. Both jurisdictions retain the right to regulate independently, and regulators lead the work with full decision-making authority.

Regulators participating in the RCF have the opportunity to:

• collaborate on shared priorities: address key regulatory challenges by working together on areas of mutual interest
• exchange information: engage with peers to share expertise, gain valuable insights and identify best practices
• find efficiencies: eliminate unnecessary regulatory barriers to trade while supporting domestic policy goals and maintaining or enhancing health, safety and environmental protections
• showcase achievements: leverage the RCF to promote accomplishments and demonstrate progress on important plans and commitments
• receive support: access resources and guidance, enhancing collaboration and effectiveness

Types of regulatory cooperation activities

Regulatory cooperation under the RCF is designed to be flexible, allowing regulators to collaborate in ways that best support their shared goals. Recent examples of cooperation include:

• sharing information, such as details about upcoming regulatory proposals or how existing regulations are applied in practice
• recognizing each other’s inspection results, which helps avoid duplicating efforts
• coordinating compliance checks, including sharing testing methods and results
• running joint public awareness campaigns, to inform consumers or businesses about regulatory issues
• reducing duplicate requirements, such as removing the need to re-test products such as sunscreens at the border when they’ve already met safety standards

See the RCF’s success stories for more details on the committee’s recent accomplishments.

How the RCF can help

If you are a regulator interested in exploring a regulatory cooperation or alignment project with the EU or are simply interested in learning more about what your EU counterparts are working on, please contact us. We can help facilitate a meeting with the relevant EU contacts and help identify opportunities for collaboration.

If you are a stakeholder with input on regulatory cooperation or alignment opportunities, we welcome your feedback at any time. Guidance is available on how to report a regulatory barrier.

Contact us

Contact us by email at rcd-dcmr@tbs-sct.gc.ca.