Regulatory Cooperation Forum: Success stories

Testing for heavy metals in children’s jewellery

In 2020, Health Canada and the European Commission’s (EC’s) Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers launched coordinated projects to test for the presence of heavy metals in children’s jewellery sold online. While each regulator carried out its own testing activities, they shared methodologies and exchanged results throughout the process. As part of the project, Health Canada tested 36 products for lead and cadmium. The tests resulted in six recalls, including two products that were also available for sale in the EU and the European Economic Area.

Consumer product safety pledges

In September 2023, Health Canada introduced the Consumer Product Safety Pledge to strengthen the safety of consumer products and cosmetics available through online marketplaces. The pledge, which is still available to sign, asks online marketplaces to commit to 14 preventative and corrective actions, such as detecting and preventing the sale of unsafe products. The EC shared insights from its own pledge, which helped inform Health Canada’s approach.

Joint consumer awareness campaigns

Canada and the EU have worked together since 2019 on a number of joint consumer awareness campaigns on topics that include button battery safety, child water safety, toy recalls and online shopping.

In fall 2024, the team ran a campaign aimed at online shoppers to raise awareness about the risk of children choking on small detachable parts found in products such as children’s clothing and toys. This collaborative effort led to the development of key messages and jointly branded visuals, with posts published on social media in November and December 2024. By focusing on safe online shopping, the awareness campaign helped educate consumers about potential risks so they could make informed purchasing decisions in an increasingly digital marketplace.

Cooperation on pharmaceutical inspections

In April 2021, Canada and the EU began formally accepting the results of each other’s inspections for pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities located outside their own borders. For example, when Health Canada inspects a facility located outside both Canada and the EU, EU regulators can choose to rely on those findings rather than conducting a separate inspection themselves, and vice versa.

This collaboration helps reduce duplication and eases the burden on both regulators and industry. As of March 2025, Health Canada officials have saved almost 5,000 hours of review time by using EU inspection results, allowing staff to focus on higher-risk areas and make better use of resources. Industry stakeholders have welcomed the approach, noting that it improves efficiency while maintaining high standards for medicine quality.

Access to pediatric medicines

In early 2024, Health Canada launched its Pediatric Submission Policy Pilot to help close information gaps in the safe and effective use of medicines for children. The pilot, which will run for at least two years, encourages drug sponsors to submit pediatric data for medications already approved for adults, supporting more evidence-based prescribing for young patients.

This initiative was supported through collaboration under the RCF, where the European Medicines Agency shared valuable insights into the operationalization of its Paediatric Regulation and how it reviews industry proposals for studying the safety, effectiveness and quality of medicines intended for children. These contributions helped inform the development and launch of the Canadian pilot.

Standards collaboration

Since 2021, the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) and the European Committee for Standardization and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CEN-CENELEC) have deepened their cooperation under the RCF, focusing on emerging and strategic areas such as hydrogen and artificial intelligence (AI).

In the area of hydrogen, CEN-CENELEC contributed lessons learned from the development of the European Roadmap on Hydrogen Standardisation and took part in the review of the Canadian Hydrogen Codes and Standards Roadmap, published in January 2025, offering a European perspective. The goal of this collaboration is to support alignment with international best practices and identify opportunities for harmonizing safety, infrastructure and performance standards, all of which are key to advancing a low-carbon hydrogen economy. Identifying shared priorities enables partners to divide tasks strategically, allowing for faster and more efficient development of codes and standards.

On AI, SCC and CEN-CENELEC have regularly exchanged information and best practices in national and international standards development. This has allowed Canada to stay informed of European developments and contribute insights from its own national AI standards work, including efforts aligned with the voluntary International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) frameworks.

Through this collaboration, SCC and CEN-CENELEC are advancing a more coherent and interoperable standards ecosystem. This reduces duplication, facilitates trade, and ensures that both Canadian and European industries remain competitive in global markets while upholding high standards of safety, innovation and trust.

Reduction of red tape for cosmetic-like products

In February 2019, Canada launched a pilot project that allowed EU sunscreens to enter Canada without undergoing quarantine and additional testing at the border. The project simplified the import process and decreased the import cost per sunscreen by an estimated $100,000 annually. Since the pilot, re-testing requirements for other low-risk cosmetic-like products such as antiperspirants, toothpaste and acne products have also been removed, encouraging EU imports and widening the selection of products available to those living in Canada without lowering standards of safety and quality.