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2019-2020 Regulatory Cooperation Council Work Plan: Energy Efficiency Reporting

Canadian Department: Natural Resources Canada

U.S. Department/Agency: U.S. Department of Energy

Closing Summary: The 2019-2020 Canada-U.S. Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) Work Plan for Energy Efficiency Reporting is now closed. The U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) collaborated across all four initiatives identified in the work plan. Notable achievements include the US DOE revision of its information collection to reflect recently adopted regulatory changes in the minimum energy performance standards for these products, NRCan's initiation of its regulatory process to harmonize minimum energy performance standards, Testing Standards and Reporting to the extent practicable, as well as the enhancement of NRCan's online reporting system (details in the table below).

Regulatory Cooperation Statement: Since 2014, NRCan and the U.S. DOE have worked to align new and updated energy efficiency standards and test methods for energy-using consumer products and equipment. Per stakeholder request, we are now evaluating whether alignment and/or consolidation of information collection is viable under our respective statutory schemes in order to reduce paperwork burden and streamline the collection of information related to compliance with U.S. and Canadian energy efficiency/energy conservation standards for specific appliances.

Work Plan:
Initiative Desired outcome(s) Activities Reporting
With respect to refrigerators, freezers, miscellaneous refrigeration products, clothes washers, clothes dryers, and dishwashers, evaluate duplication of information collection and explore options for reducing burden. Options include:
  • Harmonizing data elements between reports
  • Coordinating reports to include similar products
  • Developing applications to facilitate a single report submission
  • reduced paperwork burden
  • ease of reporting compliance with both countries
  • reduced barriers to cross-border trade
  • consult with stakeholders (ongoing);

Status update: Complete - Regulatory consultations regarding regulatory requirements for these products occurred in the U.S. in 2022 and 2023, and in Canada in April 2022. Consultation specific to the Canadian online reporting system started in June 2023 and will continue in the future as the reporting system goes live and us updated.
  • review recommendation of DOE Appliance Standards and Federal Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ASRAC) working group with respect to consolidation of information collection (January 2020);
 Status update: Complete - The ASRAC working group met on September 26 and October 10 and presented a final recommendation on December 5, 2019, which was adopted by ASRAC.
  • conduct a comparative study of Canadian and U.S. regulatory regimes in this area (October 2020);
Status update: Complete - NRCan contracted a study looking at differences in reporting requirements in Canada and the U.S. and provided options to streamline the reporting process.
  • develop options for consideration, including whether to make regulatory changes (December 2020)

Status update: Complete - DOE revised its information collection in a recently published final rule to reflect the regulatory changes in the minimum energy performance standards that have been adopted over the past 5 years. NRCan has initiated it’s regulatory process (Notice of Intent) to harmonize reported data elements for major home appliances with recent DOE updates (Final Rule). Canada is also enhancing its online reporting application to streamline future data submissions, which reduces burden for manufacturers, certification bodies, and other stakeholders.

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