Canadian Packaging Machinery Market Research Report - PMMI

or assembly instructions accompanying the equipment must be in both of Canada's
official languages --English and French. Special provincial packaging and labeling
requirements apply in the province of Quebec, and U.S. exporters of non-food FCSL
equipment should contact the Office de la Langue Francaise for more information.
1.7 REGULATORY ISSUES AFFECTING PACKAGING
Heath Canada is responsible for administering the Food and Drugs Act. This Act
applies to all food, drugs, cosmetics and medical devices sold in Canada, whether
manufactured in Canada or imported. The Act and Regulations ensures the safety of
and prevent deception in relation to foods, drugs, cosmetics and medical devices by
governing their sale and advertisement and, in addition, sets out the labeling
requirements for food. A consolidation of the Food and Drugs Act and of the Food
and Drug Regulations issued by the Department of Health can be found at:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/food-aliment/friia-raaii/food_drugs-aliments_drogues/actloi/e_index.html.
Pre-packaged products sold in Canada are subject to mandatory labeling
requirements regarding product identity, product net quantity, and dealer’s name, and
principal place of business, requirements that are described in more detail below.
Some further requirements include:
• The name of a product must appear on the label of pre-packaged consumer
goods in both English and French.
• All mandatory information on food labels must be shown in both French and
English.
• In Quebec, labeling of food products must be in French or have a French version
displayed at least as prominently as the other language.
• Labels of shipping containers (such as those for commercial, industrial or
institutional use), are not required to be bilingual, but do need a net quantity
declaration in either metric or Canadian measure.
• Information shown on labels is subject to minimum type size requirements.
• A wide range of consumer items are now limited to a specific number of standard
metric package sizes. This particularly relates to products such as laundry
detergents, soaps, deodorants, shaving creams, hairsprays, shampoo, perfume,
skin creams and other cosmetic goods.
• Statements of national meat inspection and of plant number must be indicated on
labels or cartons of imported meat.
• Textile articles, food (including meat, fish and eggs), drugs, alcohol and cosmetics
are also subject to more stringent labeling requirements.
In Canada, the existence of bilingualism has significant implications for packaging.
Canada requires bilingual labeling (English and French) for most products. Bilingual
designation of the generic name on most pre-packaged consumer products is
required by the federal Consumer Packaging and Labeling Act. Under this Act, the
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