Introduction
The North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC) entered into
force on January 1, 1994,1
simultaneously with the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)2.
The NAALC established the Commission
for Labor Cooperation,3
and its governing body, the ministerial
council, composed of the labor ministers
from the three Parties,4
Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.5
Among other responsibilities, the NAALC
charged the Council to "oversee the
implementation, and develop recommendations
on the further elaboration of this Agreement,
and, to this end, the Council shall,
within four years after the date of
entry into force of this Agreement,
review its operations and effectiveness
in the light of experience."6
In fulfillment of that mandate, the Council devised a NAALC review process, one element of which
obligated "[e]ach Party [to] request comments on the operation and effectiveness of the NAALC
from their National . . . Advisory Committees" to be transmitted to the NAALC Secretariat.7
Accordingly, the U.S. National Administrative Office (NAO) requested that the U.S. National
Advisory Committee prepare such a report. This report will review the operation and
effectiveness of the NAALC from its inception to the present, and will provide the views and
recommendations of the U.S. National Advisory Committee regarding possibilities for improving
implementation of the NAALC, and on its further elaboration.
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