Regulatory Cooperation in North America

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Regulatory Cooperation in North America

• Challenges and the Way Forward

Mohan Denetto Privy Council Office Canada
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Overview

• Regulatory Cooperation in North America
• Context
• Objectives
• Challenges
• The Way Forward
• Conclusions

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Context

• Agreements/Initiatives
• Canada-US Free Trade Agreement
• North American Free Trade Agreement
• Agreement on Internal Trade
• Security and Prosperity Partnership of North
  America
• Sectoral ad hoc initiatives
• Stakeholder concerns opposing points of view
• Small differences in regulatory compatibility can
  disproportionately increase compliance burden and
  can lead to lower productivity, and decreased
  competitiveness
• There is concern that cooperation can lead to
  lower levels of protection and loss of
  sovereignty

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Trilateral Regulatory Cooperation Objectives

• Reduce current regulatory duplication, overlap,
  and small differences, while maintaining high
  levels of protection
• Anticipate future incompatibility and avoid them
• Cooperation amongst regulators
• Better information sharing

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Challenges

• Arriving at mutual priorities
• Increasing transparency throughout the regulatory
  process
• Differing regulatory capacity and interests of
  Parties
• Harmonization between national and sub-national
  jurisdictions
• Engaging in a systematic policy dialogue in the
  absence of supra-national institutions

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Conclusions

• Regulatory Cooperation in North America is well
  developed in some areas, and beginning in others.
• Cooperation is often a reaction to the pull of
  market forces, and a can results in a vertical
  problem solving approach.
• It is characterized by a complex web of
  institutions, relationships, and agreements, many
  of which are effective. However there are no
  clear priorities, and ad hoc sporadic
  coordination.
• A formal agreement will allow some prioritization
  in the regulatory cooperation agenda, increased
  inter-governmental transparency, and focus effort
  in areas where progress can be made in the short,
  medium and long term.

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For more information

• Mohan Denetto
• Privy Council Office
• Regulatory Affairs Division
• Ottawa, Canada
• [phone]
• www.regulation.gc.ca