After submitting your cannabis drug licence application

On this page

• Changes to your application
• Withdrawal of an application
• Health Canada processes your information
• Respond to requests for more information
• Health Canada makes a final decision
• Refusal

Changes to your application

It’s important that your licence application is accurate and reflective of your intended activities with cannabis when you submit it. After submission, Health Canada can only accept minor changes but you can’t make them yourself in the CTLS. Any changes can delay the processing time. Some minor changes include:

• administrative updates, such as changing your mailing address, email and phone number
• changes to the site personnel
• change of the associated individual communicating with Health Canada for your application (consent to communicate)

For corporations, cooperatives or partnerships, you can make changes to your corporate profile at any time. These are mostly minor changes, but may still delay the processing time of your application. For example:

• changing the name of a corporation, cooperation or partnership. The CTLS will update any linked application. You’ll have to provide Health Canada with a certificate of amendment
• adding new people to your corporate profile and corporate organization chart. They’ll need to create an account in the CTLS, if they don’t have one already

To make minor changes to your submitted application or corporate profile, the senior person in charge will need to email sp-licensing-cannabis-licences-sp@hc-sc.gc.ca. The subject line of the email should be, “Change to APP #”. Health Canada will advise the senior person in charge if that change is allowed.

If you want to make major changes, you may need to withdraw and resubmit your licence application. Some major changes include:

• a change in the site location, for example, the site is no longer at the same address
• a change in licence ownership for the same site

Withdrawal of an application

You can withdraw your licence application at anytime during the licensing process. Health Canada doesn’t return information or data submitted.

To withdraw, click on the delete button on the Licence application page in the CTLS.

If you decide to remove your licence application, it won’t influence your future applications. If you wish to submit a new application, we’ll process it. However, you’ll have to re-submit all the required information. What you’ve submitted before won’t be transferred to your new licence application. Health Canada doesn’t return information and data submitted.

Health Canada processes your information

Health Canada will process your information in the steps described below. We can refuse to consider your application or refuse your application at any stage of the review process.

Review process

As a first step, Health Canada will review the information in the CTLS.

1. Health Canada assigns your licence application to an officer for review. They’ll notify you by email.
2. The officer will review your information for completeness, legibility and ability to be processed.
3. If we need more information, we’ll send you a request for more information identifying what’s missing or deficient. We’ll indicate what to submit to continue the application process.
   1. If you don’t submit a sufficient answer, or the minimum requirements aren’t met, Health Canada may refuse your application.
   2. If you submit a sufficient response, your application will continue through the review stage.

Health Canada has a non-binding service standard of 180 business days or 36 weeks to process your cannabis drug licence application from the date the application is submitted in the CTLS until the date a decision is made. It doesn’t include the time spent waiting for you to respond to our information requests.

Respond to requests for more information

It’s your responsibility to meet all the cannabis drug licensing requirements. If what you’ve submitted in your application is unclear, or doesn’t show how it meets the requirements, Health Canada may ask you to submit more information. The CTLS status for your licence application will change to “Pending information” during this time. To avoid this, use the licence application checklist to ensure you’ve submitted all the right information.

Health Canada will send official communications and requests for more information to the senior person in charge at the email address entered in the CTLS. You generally need to respond within 10 business days. You don’t need to retain the services of a third party (for example, a consultant) to prepare responses to Health Canada. If you do want to add a third party, you’ll need to make a change to your application and add an associated individual with consent to communicate with Health Canada.

When you respond to the requests for more information:

• reply to all sections of the request for more information, and submit complete answers
• don’t resubmit a revised version of the original information you’ve submitted unless that’s what you were asked

Give specific answers to the information requested, and include as many details as possible. Incomplete answers may lead to a delay in processing or a refusal to consider an application.

If you have any questions about the request for more information, contact sp-licensing-cannabis-licences-sp@hc-sc.gc.ca as soon as possible. The subject line should be “Questions about request for more information for APP #”.

Health Canada makes a final decision

Once Health Canada has reviewed all of your submitted information, we’ll make a final decision. If Health Canada decides to issue a cannabis drug licence, the senior person in charge will get an email with the electronic versions of:

• the licence
• the licence issuance letter detailing important information specific to their licence

Refusal

Health Canada may refuse to consider an application if you don’t send the necessary information to the requests for more information. We may also refuse your application for the reasons in subsection 62(7) of the Cannabis Act and section 155 of the Cannabis Regulations. In these cases, Health Canada will send a notice of intent to refuse. The notice will explain the reasons for refusal, and give you a timeframe to respond, after which Health Canada will make a final decision.

If Health Canada has decided to refuse your application, we’ll send you a notice of refusal and close your application. It will give the specific reasons or deficiencies that led to the decision.

If Health Canada refuses your licence application, it won’t influence your future applications. If you wish to submit a new application, we’ll process it. However, you’ll have to re-submit all the required information. What you’ve submitted before won’t be transferred to your new licence application. Health Canada doesn’t return information and data submitted.