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- The Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) is a joint initiative between Canada and the United States that facilitates regulatory cooperation between the two countries and aims to enhance economic competitiveness. The RCC was created in 2011 to facilitate closer cooperation between Canada and the United States to develop smarter approaches to regulations and to make both economies stronger and more competitive, while meeting the fundamental responsibilities to protect the safety and welfare of citizens.
- Since 2012, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), in cooperation with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), has developed annual joint work plans in the areas of animal health, meat inspection and certification, plant health, and food safety.
- The CFIA recently launched a new web-based consultation tool to gather feedback from stakeholders on current RCC work plans in the areas of animal health, meat inspection and certification, plant health, and food safety. With specific regard to meat inspection, for example, the 2016-2017 RCC work plan outlines steps that the CFIA and USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will take to “achieve closer alignment between their slaughter and processed meat inspection system requirements, eliminate unnecessary or duplicative requirements, and identify areas of mutual interest and collaboration for modernization based on the best available science, technological advances and their respective meat inspection modernization approaches” to “further streamline the efficient export and import of meat through electronic certification processes.”
- Stakeholders may provide feedback on the work plans through October 31, 2017. Information gathered during this consultation period will be used to facilitate the development of the next iteration of RCC work plans for food safety, meat inspection and certification, animal health, and plant health.
