We believe this approach will alleviate the concerns of producers on both sides of the border who want more equitable availability to crop protection products, and will simplify the registration process for manufacturers allowing them to complete reviews more quickly and economically

Some progress has been made towards the goal of a harmonized regulatory process through the NAFTA Technical Working Group (TWG). Progress has also been made in recent years in the actual joint registration of pesticide products.

However, there are several significant remaining concerns regarding the current regulatory approval processes between Canada and the US .

In order to be effective, any system must provide an incentive for registrants to opt for joint rather than individual registrations. This is not yet the case.

We believe that expedited reviews and lower combined registration fees, compared to pursuing two separate registrations would provide sufficient incentive for registrants to prefer the joint system.

Incentives should be implemented so that the value of marketing a common product under a common NAFTA label in both Canada and the US (and Mexico , where appropriate) outweighs the value of marketing common products with different labels.