Since the Cannabis Act (the Act) and Cannabis Regulations (the Regulations) were enacted in 2018, the legal cannabis industry has evolved. The Government of Canada has amended these laws to support diversity, competition, and reduce regulatory burdens while maintaining public health and public safety objectives.
On March 12, 2025, the Regulations amending certain regulations concerning cannabis (streamlining of requirements) and the Order Amending Schedule 2 to the Cannabis Act came into force. The Order Amending the Cannabis Tracking System Order (Cultivation Waste) will come into force on April 1, 2025.
The amendments will affect the following regulations and orders concerning the regulation of cannabis:
- Cannabis Regulations;
- Schedule 2 to the Cannabis Act;
- Cannabis Tracking System Order (the Order);
- Industrial Hemp Regulations;
- Natural Health Products Regulations; and
- Cannabis Exemption (Food and Drugs Act) Regulations.
Production Changes
The changes to the Regulations related to production-requirements are expected to lead to a wider range of product availability, including:
- Repealing the 1g limit on pre-rolled dried cannabis to enable inhalable dried cannabis production in a range of sizes; and
- Slightly expanding the use of ethyl alcohol to now include use in cannabis extracts intended for inhalation and topicals.
Packaging and Labelling Requirement Changes
The changes will be implemented by Health Canada to ease some restrictions on packaging and labelling requirements for retail cannabis products.
Expanding Design Options for Packaging
- The lid or cap of a cannabis product container can now be a different colour from the container.
- Cut-out windows and transparent packaging for dried or fresh cannabis products and seeds are now permitted.
- Images and information required by regulations are now allowed on cannabis packages (for example, the universal recycling symbol).
These changes intend to increase operational flexibility for processors and help consumers visually assess products and brands before purchasing.
Co-packaging Now Permitted
Co-packaging (a multi-pack of the same product) of dried cannabis, fresh cannabis, extracts, topicals and edibles is now permitted. Products in a co-pack must be identical and can contain up to 30g of dried cannabis or its equivalent. THC limits on containers remain unchanged. The packaging date is not required on the outermost label.
Packaging and Labelling
More labelling options are now available, such as QR codes, information inserts and peel back labels, making it easier to meet labelling requirements and provide consumers with detailed information without changing container sizes.
Certain label requirements have been removed, including equivalency to dried cannabis statements and potency labelling other than total THC and CBD. Font size for cannabinoid information can be increased and packaging date variance within 7 days is allowed.
License holders may need to update their packaging and labels. Old labels with bold THC and CBD information can be used until March 12, 2026. After that, the new requirements must be met, and bold font cannot be use; however, retailers can sell products with old labels indefinitely.
Record-Keeping and Reporting Changes
Cultivation licence holders no longer need to record the quantity, method or rationale for substance use. They only need to retain the name of the substance used and the date of application.
Processing licence holders no longer need to submit several items, including notices of new products, annual promotional expense reports, ingredient lists for shipments, paper copies of the Consumer information document, details on the assignment of key investors' rights, and key investor reports for licensees wholly owned by publicly-traded companies. Reporting requirements for cannabis destruction and monthly reporting of plant trimmings waste and unpackaged seed count have also been curtailed.
Licence Holder Changes
The limitation on the surface areas permitted for growing operations have increased for micro-cultivation, nursery and micro-processing licences, allowing more cannabis cultivation and processing under these classes of licenses.
Research licences are no longer required to possess up to 30g of dried cannabis for non-human and non-animal cannabis research. In addition, licence holders meeting Section 28.01 requirements of the Regulations can request licence revocation and current applicants can withdraw their application.
Import and export requirements have also been relaxed, no longer requiring addresses of customs offices, providing flexibility in using alternate entry or exit ports.
Finally, new cultivation, nursery and research licences can now obtain, sell or distribute cannabis pollen, promoting plant genetics development. Existing licence holders must apply to change their licence to receive such authorization.
Generally, all licensees will be responsible for updating all internal process or specification documents to reflect new processes at their site as permitted by the amendments.
Personnel and Physical Security Changes
Several amendments have also reduced administrative burdens for personnel and physical security requirements on various cannabis licences. These changes include:
- no intrusion detection for site perimeter;
- motion-activated visual recordings must be retained only for 1 year;
- no specific physical security requirements for storage areas;
- no record must be retained of people entering/exiting storage areas;
- exempting operational areas from some physical security requirements when cannabis activities are not occurring; and
- allowing cultivation waste storage in operational areas.
However, we note that licence holders must submit an updated security plan to Health Canada if they change physical security measures.
The personnel changes include eliminating the requirement that a security-cleared person be on-site or accompanying off-site antimicrobial treatments. Processing licence holders can now also have more than two alternate quality assurance persons (QAPs) who can delegate activities while maintaining accountability. These change requests can be made in the Cannabis Tracking and Licensing System.
Takeaways
These amendments aim to reduce regulatory burdens, simplify the regulatory process, and enhance market efficiency and competitiveness while maintaining public health and safety objectives.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
