Thank you for the question.
I'd be happy to try to help.
What I'm going to do is to talk about PCO's role and the function that we fulfill out of the RCC, the regulatory cooperation council.
The RCC was created in December, 2011, falling out of the agreement that was signed by the Prime Minister and the American President at the same time they signed the Beyond the Border action plan. The RCC was created to better align both country's regulatory regimes with a view to eliminating the unnecessary duplication. The reason why that work was possible was that both countries have highly efficient regulatory systems based on compatible outcomes. But over time the way they've done it has evolved differently, and it's creating the problems to which you've referred.
When putting together the initial work plan that was announced at that time, 29 initiatives were laid out with a very focused effort on stakeholder engagement because, as you say, that conversation really infuses the work that has to be done. What followed, I think, exceeded a lot of expectations in terms of the productivity and fruitfulness of those conversations.
During the first part of that work, which took place every number of years, key initiatives included the creation of the common electronic submission gateway whereby both countries can submit applications for approval of pharmaceuticals and biological products to both Health Canada and its American counterpart, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This was a new enhancement to the Canadian regulatory system, and I think helpful to industry.
Another example of something positive that came out of it was regulatory oversight of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, where a pilot project was conducted that included 10 pilot ship inspections to explore various joint approaches. Building on those pilot projects was really kind of an incubation work where people got to test and succeed or fail.
The new joint forward action plan was released in August of 2014 and said that we're ready to mature this. We're ready to institutionalize work plans in Canadian federal departments and their American counterparts in 24 broad regulatory areas, and there will actually be public servants on both sides who are accountable for making progress.
There are a couple of interesting files that they're working on that I find useful to know. One is on the lack of common labelling for paint. We use paint here in Canada and in the United States, but the labelling is not common and the regulation around that is not common. It creates between $38 million and $50 million worth of inefficiencies for every 15 months that this misalignment persists. Imagine what industry could do with that money if they had it.
Another example is lipstick. Currently, to produce a lipstick in Canada or the United States, you need three pieces of paper and $600 in the United States or $1,000 to apply in Canada. If you want to add sun screen to that lipstick, an SPF factor, it doesn't change in the United States but in Canada it turns lipstick into a drug. The cost to get the regulatory approval for that lipstick with the SPF is anywhere between $100,000 to $200,000. That's an example of the kind of work that the RCC will be supporting departments on both sides to pursue.