HC Agrees to Provide Some Relief Through “Compliance Promotion” Period
As has been previously reported, Health Canada (HC) introduced mandatory contact allergen labelling provisions in their Regulatory Amendments to the Cosmetic Regulations in Avril 2024. CA and our members have long supported the principle of mandatory disclosure of known contact allergens (when backed by clinical and scientific evidence), in line with similar requirements already established in Europe, the UK and elsewhere.
Canada’s Coming into Force provisions as published – which provided only a two-year period for label changes and sell-through for the original 26 allergens- created timing issues for many companies operating in North American or Canadian-only supply chains. Unlike supply chains that had to comply with these requirements in the E.U., there was no impetus to “worked towards” complying with the European allergen disclosure requirements (in place since 2009), nor was there in any clear direction as to what might be required in the U.S. For various products in these supply and distribution channels, there is now an urgent need to “catch-up” with Canada’s shorter transition timing which HC did not take into account in its implementation timing despite being warned in the consultation process.
For the 24 allergens already disclosed in Europe, Canada’s amendments call for a compliance deadline of Avril 2026 for both manufacturing change control and sell-through (2 years from the Avril 2024 published amendments). For the full 81 allergens to be disclosed in Europe by 2028, Canada requires new products to comply by Août 2026 and existing products to sell-through by Aug 2028. Of note, Europe provided for a transition window of 5 years from their “coming into force”.
As reported in our Fall Regulatory Workshop – CA has been working with officials since the publication of these amendments to secure a process to provide for administrative compliance discretion for those members who need flexibility in implementation to minimize the burden/cost of transition, market disruptions and product waste. Over summer 2024, HC officials signaled to CA and other affected trade associations (including US PCPC) that members can seek one-on-one meetings to share their transition challenges and proposed compliance action plans for consideration by HC.
CA encouraged members who had challenges with the transition deadlines to share their case and seek meetings with officials. Various meetings took place throughout Octobre 2024 to Février 2025.
On Feb 21, 2025, HC finally issued a Stakeholder Notice to all stakeholders, outlining how they will proceed with “compliance promotion” to facilitate the desired flexibility – without changing the published deadlines – which should provide a further year in which to come into compliance including the sell-through of non-compliant products. Health Canada is therefore taking a generic approach rather than a case-by-case approach which they originally communicated.
Although this is a positive development, CA has urged Health Canada to take an active role with communicating to all stakeholders – especially the retail community – so that when the published timelines come and go, products are not prematurely removed from stores shelves. In CA’s follow-up letter to Health Canada (HERE), we have proposed that they collaborate with CA (given our retail membership) AND the Retail Council of Canada to ensure a common approach and understanding among retailers to minimize disruptions.
CA will continue to keep members apprised of developments. Should you have any questions, please contact your CA Regulatory Team.
