Electronically contacting the Natural and Non-prescription Health Products Directorate: Trading partners

Also called the applicant company. A trading partner may be:

• an entity that has the status of a person in law (proof required)
• a person or an entity created by law to conduct commercial business
• a business or company who has a legally registered business name, such as a:
  • division
  • law firm
  • corporation
  • consultant firm
• a self-employed or natural person who has a registered business, such as a:
  • consultant
  • naturopath
  • shop owner
• A partnership between 2 companies who have:
  • legally registered business names
  • an agreement that recognizes their partnership

A trading partner may have:

• only one primary user
• one or more delegated users

A primary user must be:

• from the trading partner company
• a person who signs the trading partner agreement on behalf of the trading partner (applicant company)
  • This requires proof of authority to sign

The primary user:

• is responsible for keeping all the trading partner information up to date, such as:
  • company name
  • delegated users
  • contact information
• is held legally accountable by the directorate for all electronic activity submitted by all users on behalf of the trading partner
• can delegate or revoke authority to delegated users to transact electronically with the directorate on behalf of the trading partner
  • the primary user is still held accountable for this activity

A delegated user is a person who the primary user has designated to transact electronically with the directorate on behalf of the trading partner.

The delegated user can:

• submit changes to their own information, such as updates to:
  • email address
  • phone number
• be from the primary user’s company or a third-party consultant, in which case the third- party company must also enrol as a trading partner

There can be any number of delegated users for a trading partner. Delegation remains in effect until revoked by the primary user.

A delegated user with primary user access:

• must be from the primary user’s company
• may perform the functions of the primary user if delegated by the primary user
• when applicable, is responsible for keeping all the trading partner information up to date, such as:
  • company name
  • delegated users
  • contact information
• does not have the authority to change the relationship between the primary user and the trading partner
• may delegate or revoke authority to others (delegated users) to transact electronically with the directorate on behalf of the trading partner

The trading partner agreement sets out the terms and conditions available to the trading partner for the purpose of communicating electronically with the directorate.

When filling out the agreement, you must provide:

• the requested trading partner company information on page 1
• the requested primary user information on page 11
• an original or electronic signature on page 13

A company doing business under a different name from the true name of the owner must indicate on the agreement its:

• trade name and
• legal (registered) name

If a partnership exists, it should also set out the names of the partners.

Once signed and completed, submit the entire agreement to the directorate electronically. You can submit the agreement as:

• a scanned copy of the signed agreement or
• the agreement with an electronic signature

The person who signs the trading partner agreement must be the primary user. This should be the same individual identified as having signing authority in the proof of signing authority document.

Complete your trading partner agreement form

The trading partner profile form identifies all trading partner information, such as users, roles and contact information. The directorate uses this form to initialize and update trading partner accounts.

You must use Adobe Reader to complete the trading partner profile form. You must download and complete the form on your own workstation. The form will not function properly if completed in a browser window.

You can complete the form in either English or French by selecting the appropriate button at the top of the form. To enrol as a new Trading Partner, select the option for ‘New Trading Partner Profile’.

Part 1 of the form is used to identify the trading partner in Section A and primary user in Section B.

Part 2 of the form is for the primary user to identify any delegated users who will be authorized to transact on behalf of the trading partner. To add more than one delegated user, select the ‘add a delegated user’ button. A delegated user does not need to be identified during enrolment, and can be added at a later date.

A delegated user can be assigned designated authority privileges that would allow them to act as the primary user to:

• modify the contact information of the trading partner
• add and remove other delegated users on the trading partner profile

The trading partner profile form currently does not allow for this to be indicated. As such, the primary user must submit a letter along with the trading partner profile form indicating which, if any, delegated users would have such authority.
All required fields are marked by an asterisk (*). You must complete them before you finalize or submit the form.

Enter the user’s unique ePost Connect™ email address in the posteCS address field on the form.

Once finalized, the primary user must sign the Attestation section before submitting to the directorate.

We strongly recommend you save and store your completed trading partner profile form. Should you wish to make changes in the future, you will be able to work directly off of this form by selecting ‘Modify’ instead of starting a new application.
Complete the Trading Partner Profile form

As part of the trading partner application, you must provide proof of the primary user’s legal capacity to sign the trading partner agreement on behalf of the trading partner company. This requires:

1. Proof of the legal name of the trading partner company
2. Authorization that the named primary user has the legal authority to sign on behalf of the trading partner company

The supporting documentation will depend on the individual trading partner circumstances.

Proof of the legal name of the trading partner company

The proof of legal name is required to prove the name of the Trading Partner Company. We do not accept personal pieces of identification, such as driver’s licenses or passports. 

Corporations can provide any one of:

• Certificate of Incorporation (showing incorporated name, business address and officers/senior official) provided by the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations.
• Letters patent or any other official incorporation document.

A natural person who has a registered business name can provide any one of:

• Business registration.
• Goods and Services Tax notice from the Canada Revenue Agency for the registered business.

A partnership must provide a partnership agreement showing:

• partnership name
• business address
• names of partners

Proof of signing authority

All trading partner enrollees will need a letter stating that the named primary user has the legal authority to sign on behalf of the trading partner company. The letter must be written on corporation letterhead signed by the senior official within the company and by a witness. The senior official is the principal contact person for the licensee/applicant, at the address given. All regulatory mail including the product licence is sent to this person. This is not the contact person for submission specific questions, but the person who has the authority to represent the company.

See Appendix A