Selling Natural Health Products in Canada: What You Need to Know
Consumers are demanding natural health products, and your business is equipped to meet that demand! But what are the requirements for selling a natural health product in Canada? Here are the 3 main requirements you need to know about before your product can hit the shelves.
First, Get Your NPN and NHP License
Before you can get your product out to consumers, you first need to obtain your NPN and NHP license. NPN stands for Natural Product Number. This is a unique, 8-digit number that will be displayed on the label of your product. It is issued by Health Canada.
It can take anywhere from 2 to 7 months to get your NPN and NHP license, so it’s a bit of a waiting game. The length of time it takes often depends on the license class.
To understand the license classes (I, II and III) you first need to understand monographs. Monographs are documents containing information that is pre-cleared by Health Canada. They describe dosages and indications for each ingredient in a natural health product. Here are the three classes:
Class I NHP Licensing
The quickest and easiest licensing class; references one monograph and takes ~2 months to process.
Class II NHP Licensing
This licensing class may reference more than one monograph while following all guidelines; takes ~3 months to process.
Class III NHP Licensing
If one of the medicinal ingredients does not have a monograph or if the dosage is higher than monograph guidance, it can take up to ~6-7 months to get your license.
Wondering what class of license your product will be? You can look up publicly-available monographs at Health Canada to see if your ingredients are pre-cleared.
Create an NHP-Compliant Product Label
Congratulations, your license has been reviewed and processed and you have your Natural Product Number! Now, it is time to make sure your product label meets all the requirements of NHPs in Canada. These requirements are fairly complicated, so you’ll need to do your research. Here are some of the basic requirements:
- Include name, product size and best-before date
- Make sure the NPN is clearly visible on the principal display panel
- Include risk and caution statements
- Provide directions for use
- List each medicinal ingredient and provide the amount per dosage
- Display importing information
- Make the entire label English/French bilingual
Find more information on NHP labelling requirements at Health Canada.
Get Licensed for Importing Products into Canada
This isn’t important if you are manufacturing and selling your product within Canada’s borders. But if your finished product is coming into Canada from another country, you will need Health Canada’s permission to import the product and sell it in Canada. You need to make sure your NPN number and NHP license is complete before you can move on to this step.
This makes the whole importing process go much more smoothly while also helping to keep consumers safe when using your product. This process helps ensure that your health product was manufactured in a way that meets Canadian GMPs or equivalent standards. You will need to submit information showing that the product is safe, effective, and good quality. Learn more on the Health Canada website.
Meet NHP Requirements and Start Selling Your Health Product!
Once you have met Canada’s NHP requirements, you’re one step closer to putting your product on store shelves! We wish you the best of luck.
For more information about NPN License, Health Canada regulations, cosmetic labeling & Ingredient Review, follow this link https://cosmereg.com/npn-health-canada/ or Please contact our regulatory consultant or call us +1 727 3509380.
