1

Rulemaking Cooperation Guidelines

for the

Federal Aviation Administration 

and 

Transport Canada Civil Aviation

Background:

The bilateral agreement between the United States of America (U.S.) and the 

Government of Canada (Canada) promotes rulemaking cooperation between the 

Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) and Transport Canada Civil Aviation 

(TCCA).

The activities between the U.S. and Canada under the Regulatory Cooperation 

Council also encourage the sharing of rulemaking experiences to promote cooperation 

and aligning of rulemaking requirements.

The FAA and TCCA (the “Participants”) have informally cooperated on numerous 

rulemaking activities in the past. 

The Participants understand that harmonisation can best be achieved through effective 

communication during the definition and early stages of implementation of their

respective rulemaking programmes.

They also believe they should make the best use of scarce available resources to 

produce rules, and that cooperation in this field can be furthered without affecting 

their independence when deciding on the final rules they best see fit to fulfil their 

statutory obligations. Therefore, these Guidelines are not intended to create binding 

obligations under international law. Additionally, no provision of this document 

should be construed to impair the authority of the FAA or TCCA to develop and 

promulgate aviation regulations within the limits of their enabling legislation and 

regulations.
2

I. Objectives

1) These Guidelines establish the process through which the FAA and TCCA intend 

to promote rulemaking co-operation in the early stages of the rulemaking process.

2) The objectives of this rulemaking cooperation arrangement are to:

i. Exchange rulemaking intentions and priorities of the Participants to align as 

much as possible their respective rulemaking programmes;

ii. Identify rulemaking initiatives of common interest that through regulatory 

collaboration would allow the FAA and TCCA to: (i) avoid unnecessary 

divergence and duplication of work, (ii) maximize available resources, and 

(iii) further harmonisation.

iii. Define the corresponding working methods (as described under Article IV) to 

be followed by the Participants when executing tasks which have been 

identified as of ‘common interest’ under Article III;

II. Scope

1) The scope of these Guidelines includes rulemaking initiatives related to Title 14, 

Code of Federal Regulations and equivalent Canadian rule for which proposals are 

developed by TCCA, as well as to related acceptable means of compliance, 

certification specifications, advisory circulars, guidance material, and technical 

standard orders.

2) Activities related to the issuance of airworthiness directives, equivalent safety 

findings and special conditions for individual certification projects are outside 

the scope of this rulemaking cooperation arrangement.

III. Project Management

1) Management of the FAA and TCCA in charge of rulemaking intend to meet at 

least twice a year in the April and November time frame, preferably by 

videoconference, to:

i. Review the functioning of this rulemaking cooperation arrangement.

ii. Discuss their current and future rulemaking programmes, including 

priorities thereof and related documentation. To that end, the FAA and 

TCCA intend to exchange on a regular basis their respective 

rulemaking programmes, and information on their implementation in 

accordance with Attachment I of these Guidelines.
3

iii. Identify rulemaking activities of common interest, and corresponding 

working methods.

iv. Discuss possible changes in the rulemaking programmes and working 

methods imposed by changing priorities. 

v. Discuss possible contentious issues.

2) The FAA and TCCA intend to develop an agenda for these meetings at least three 

weeks before the meeting.

3) The FAA and TCCA intend to maintain an up to date inventory of rulemaking

tasks that have been identified as being of common interest, including

identification of the focal points and information on the types of common actions

agreed to and their current status. Where appropriate, the FAA and TCCA intend 

to make available to the public the list of rulemaking tasks of common interest and 

status of the work.

IV. Implementation and Selection of Working Methods

1) The FAA and TCCA intend to use one of the following working methods to 

execute rulemaking tasks, which the Participants have identified as “tasks of 

common interest,” with the objective to make best use of available resources and 

expertise on both sides. “Tasks of common interest” may include newly initiated 

rulemaking projects of either Participant affecting a precisely defined domain. 

The selection of a working method should take into account the benefits for 

aviation safety and for the aviation sector, and complexity of the subject.

Working Method # 1 - TCCA Takes the Lead

The general process is the TCCA rulemaking procedure as governed by the 

Canadian Aviation Regulation Advisory Council (CARAC). 

This working method aims at giving the FAA sufficient involvement in the 

TCCA rulemaking project to understand the content of the draft rule and to be 

able to contribute to this process as necessary to allow it, where appropriate, to 

launch an equivalent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) or take other 

equivalent rulemaking decision.

The TCCA focal point should lead the rulemaking process in regular 

coordination with the FAA focal point.

The TCCA focal point should ensure that communication takes place for the 

following phases of the TCCA process:

- When a regulatory initiative has been prioritized by TCCA senior 

management and a Preliminary Issue and Consultation Assessment

(PICA) has been developed;
4

- When deciding the composition of a Focus Group when such a 

group is established;

- When deciding changes in the terms of reference or the group 

composition;

- When releasing reports and recommendations of Focus Group.

- Before presenting the TCCA Notice of Proposed Amendment 

(NPA) to CARAC;

Working Method #2 - FAA Takes the Lead

The general process is outlined in the FAA Office of Rulemaking’s

Rulemaking Manual.

This working method aims at giving TCCA sufficient involvement in the 

FAA’s rulemaking project to understand the content of the NPRM and be able 

to contribute to this process as necessary to allow it, where appropriate, to 

launch an equivalent NPA or take other equivalent rulemaking decision.

As appropriate, the FAA focal point should lead the rulemaking process in 

regular coordination with the TCCA focal point.

The FAA focal point should ensure that communication takes place for the 

following phases of the FAA process:

- When developing issue papers in preparation for drafting the 

Rulemaking Action Plan (“RAP”);

- When selecting the membership of an ARAC (“Aviation 

Rulemaking Advisory Committee”) or Aviation Rulemaking 

Committee (“ARC”) to allow TCCA participation;

- During the deliberations of an ARAC or ARC up to and including 

publication of the final reports;

- When deciding changes to the scope of the rulemaking project prior 

to the development of the RAP.

Working Method #3 – Authorities Cooperation

Under this method, the FAA and TCCA intend to develop their rulemaking 

projects separately, but concurrently (to the extent practicable). However, 

as appropriate, the FAA and TCCA focal points may follow the process 

described in Working Methods #1 and #2 in sharing information during 

concurrent development of the rule.
5

2) The Participants may exchange technical experts, at their own cost. Exchanges 

of personnel should be addressed in separate written arrangements between the 

Participants. 

3) For each task identified as a “task of common interest” the Participants intend to 

assign a focal point responsible for coordinating the work.

V. FAA Ex Parte Communications

To the extent that the FAA engages in any ex parte communications with TCCA after 

approval of the RAP until publication of the final rule and receives significant 

information and argument from TCCA respecting the merits of the proposed rule, the 

FAA will provide a summary of those discussions in the rulemaking docket. 

VI. Work Plans

1) For each rulemaking project selected, TCCA and FAA intend to develop a work 

plan. Each work plan should describe the following:

i. Working method;

ii. Technical points of contact;

iii. Project implementation schedule and meeting dates;

iv. Description of the technical documents that either the FAA or TCCA

intends to make available for review and discussion. These may include 

jointly developed issue papers, analyses, research results and other 

technical documents of a non-confidential nature, except that the FAA and 

TCCA, if their national procedures or rules so require, may decide not to 

make available copies of documents, such as in the case of the FAA, the 

RAP, or the NPRM prior to publication in the Federal Register;

v. Participation in work groups, e.g. ARAC and ARCs; and

vi. Any other cooperative activities mutually determined by TCCA and the 

FAA to be beneficial.

VII. Release of Data

Except as required by applicable law, neither the FAA nor TCCA should disclose to 

any third party confidential or pre-decisional rulemaking information received from 

the other Participant as a result of that Participant’s involvement in any rulemaking 

project under these Guidelines, without the written consent of that other Participant. 

Each Participant should identify documents designated as confidential or pre-


7

Attachment 1

Rulemaking Programmes

Documents to be provided by TCCA:

Type of document Frequency of exchanges Focal Point

Status report on 

regulatory priorities 

AC status linked to 

regulatory priorities

once every four months

Upon publication of the 

rule.

marieanne.dromaguet@tc.gc.ca

jacqueline.booth@tc.gc.ca

4-year rulemaking lookaheadannually

jacqueline.booth@tc.gc.ca

Documents to be provided by FAA:

Type of document Frequency of exchanges Focal Point

Rule status reports

AC and Orders1

status 

once a month

once a month

James.M.Crotty@faa.gov

4-year rulemaking lookahead annually James.M.Crotty@faa.gov

 1 For the FAA, ACs and Orders are promulgated by the specific Line of Business and not by the 

Office of Rulemaking.