Thanks to the International Council on Nanotechnology (ICON) news aggregator, I found this June 25, 2013 snippet on the Meridian Institute website about a Canada-US collaborative effort to classify nanomaterials in a single schema, from the snippet,

According to a U.S. official, the U.S.-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) working group focused on nanotechnology developed the scheme for industrial nanomaterials based on common characteristics. Tracy Williamson, the chief of the industrial chemistry branch of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, said identifying classes of industrial nanomaterials is an “important first step” for both countries to make more informed regulatory decisions. … David Morin, the executive director of Environment Canada’s Program Development and Engagement Division, said, “What this does between both agencies in Canada and the U.S. is it increases the level of comfort and understanding in terms of what exactly some of these categories of concern could be. In turn, what it does is provides industry and other stakeholders with a certain amount of predictability in terms of what are likely outcomes going to be.” The group will next meet in November [2013?] to announce its accomplishments at the close of its 18-month work plan.

I mentioned this project of the Canada-US Regulatory Cooperation Council in more detail and at an earlier stage in a Dec. 3,2012 posting.  Additionally, I have found the Canadian government’s Regulatory Cooperation Council website and more information. This time it’s about a public consultation, which is mentioned in the council’s May 2013 newsletter,

Engaging with Stakeholders

As part of the RCC Nanotechnology Work Plan, Canada and the US have committed to identifying common principles for the regulation and oversight of nanomaterials to help ensure consistency across the government, for industry and consumers in both countries.  The Government of Canada has initiated a 60-day public comment period, to finish on July 17, 2013 date, inviting stakeholders to comment on a draft principles document.

Here’s more from the Consultation on RCC Nanotechnology Policy Principles for Decision-Making Concerning Regulation and Oversight of Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials webpage,

In February 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama announced the creation of the Canada-United States (US) Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC).  The goal of the RCC is to increase Canada-US regulatory transparency and coordination. The regulation of nanomaterials is one of the horizontal initiatives under the RCC.

During the winter and spring of 2012, a Canada-US working group developed the RCC Nanotechnology Work Plan which specifies concrete objectives, deliverables and milestones for tangible progress within the RCC’s two-year mandate.

As part of the RCC Nanotechnology Work Plan, Canada and the US have committed to identifying common principles for the regulation and oversight of nanomaterials to help ensure consistency across the government, for industry and consumers in both countries.

In June 2011, the U.S. White House released the document “Policy Principles for the US Decision Making concerning Regulation and Oversight of Applications of Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials”. The Government of Canada has developed a draft document, “RCC Nanotechnology Policy Principles for Decision-Making Concerning Regulation and Oversight of Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials” which adopts, within a Canadian RCC context, the principles outlined in the US document.

The Government of Canada is now initiating a 60-day public comment period, to finish on July 17, 2013 date, inviting stakeholders to comment on the draft Policy Principles document. [emphasis mine]

Following the 60-day comment period, it is anticipated that the final document will be published in late Fall 2013. A Response to Comments document will be available.

For further information and to submit your comments, please contact: rccnanoccr@ec.gc.ca

All of this information is accessible through the Canadian government’s nanoportal (last mentioned here in a June 1, 2011 posting). This looks like it’s in better condition than it was in 2011. Still,I have to wonder why the Canadian government doesn’t send* out notices to interested websites and blogs to garner comments for its public consultation efforts. I found this information through an extraordinarily circuitous route. By contrast, I’m constantly stumbling across notices for US consultations such as the US NISOH (National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety) mentioned in this June 25, 2013 posting earlier this week.

* sent changed to send on Jan. 21,2014.