Cannabis Tracking and Licensing System reporting guide for provincial or territorial reporting authorities, distributors and retailers: Submit your reports

On this page

• Prepare your inventory data
• Prepare your sales data (excluding medical sales)
• Providing additional context on data
• Error messages
• Changing a previously submitted report
• Reviewing submitted reports

Prepare your inventory data

Automated variance validation

The Cannabis Tracking and Licensing System (CTLS) provides automated validation of the Opening inventory and Closing inventory of each cannabis product category (Packaged). If there is more than a 5% variance between the Opening inventory of the current month and the Closing inventory of the previous month, the system will display an error message and you will not be able to submit your report until your data is corrected to be within the accepted range.

For example, a provincial or territorial distributor or retailer may have 100 units of Edibles (Packaged) as their Closing inventory in May 2023. They would not be able to report 120 units in June 2023 as their Opening inventory. This is a greater than 5% variance.

Refer to the Closing inventory: Discrepancies between Opening and Closing inventory scenarios for more information.

Packaged inventory

This section of the cannabis tracking report captures information about the physical flow of cannabis products (such as cannabis that is packaged for sale to a consumer at the retail level) into and out of a provincially or territorially authorized site.

If you are submitting a report by file upload, this information is captured in the following ways:

• Reporting form: The "Packaged Inventory" information can be entered starting in cell H1 and extending to cell EH1
• Reports tool: The "Packaged Inventory" information can be entered in the tab called "Packaged"

If you are submitting a report by manual entry in the CTLS, there is a "Packaged Inventory" section in the Index. Once you click on this section, the fields related to "Packaged Inventory" in the below table will appear.

Refer to the reporting scenario Language differences in reporting (English vs. French) for more information on .csv file uploads.

Packaged inventory reporting fields

Opening inventory

• Opening inventory: The number of cannabis products packaged for sale to a consumer at the retail level held in inventory at the site on the first day of the previous month

Additions to inventory

• Quantity received – domestic: The number of cannabis products that were physically received from another site in Canada, including all purchases and transfers
• Quantity received – returns: The number of cannabis products received as a result of a return from a consumer or another site
• Other additions: The number of cannabis products received in inventory that are not captured by one of the categories above

Reductions to inventory

• Quantity shipped – domestic: The number of cannabis products sent within Canada, including cannabis products shipped to provincially or territorially authorized distributors and retailers and to consumers at the retail level
• Quantity shipped – returned: The number of cannabis products sent back to a licence holder after they were purchased or received
• Quantity destroyed: The number of cannabis products that were destroyed
• Quantity lost/stolen: The number of cannabis products that were lost, stolen or otherwise unaccounted for
• Other reductions: The number of cannabis products removed from inventory that is not captured by one of the categories above

Closing inventory

• Closing inventory: The number of cannabis products held in inventory at the site on the last day of the previous month
• Closing inventory value: The book value, in Canadian dollars and net of sales tax, of the cannabis products held in inventory at the site on the last day of the previous month
• Weight of closing inventory: The weight, in kilograms (except for cannabis seeds and plants, which are to be reported by number of seeds and number of plants, respectively), of the cannabis contained in the cannabis products held in inventory at the site on the last day of the previous month. This is the actual weight and not the dried cannabis equivalency weight

Prepare your sales data (excluding medical sales)

A reporter is expected to complete a "Sales" section for each product category. Reporting of sales captures information about financial transactions.

The "Sales" section of each monthly report captures information about:

• non-medical sales of packaged cannabis

Non-medical sales of packaged cannabis can occur with retailers, distributors or consumers. Consumers are able to purchase online or from a retail store.

If you are submitting a report by file upload, this information is captured in the following ways:

• Reporting form: The "Sales" information can be entered starting in cell EI and extending to cell AZR
• Reports tool: The "Sales" information can be entered in the tab called "Sales"

If you are submitting a report by manual entry in CTLS, there is a "Sales" section in the Index. Once you click on this section, the fields related to "Sales" in the below table will appear.

Refer to the Reporting sales scenario and the Drop shipping scenario for more information.

Sales reporting fields

Non-medical

• Direct to consumer (online): The number and the sales value, in Canadian dollars net of sales tax, of cannabis products sold and shipped to a retail consumer who placed an order through a provincial or territorial online system or authorized private retailer website. To be reported according to the province or territory where the consumer resides
• Direct to consumer (retail): The number and the sales value, in Canadian dollars net of sales tax, of cannabis products sold to a retail consumer at a provincially or territorially authorized retailer. This includes orders placed through a provincial or territorial online system or authorized private retailer website and picked up in-store, commonly referred to as "click and collect"
• To distributor/wholesaler: The number and the sales value, in Canadian dollars net of sales tax, of cannabis products sold to a provincially or territorially authorized distributor or wholesaler
• To retailer: The number and the sales value, in Canadian dollars net of sales tax, of cannabis products sold to a provincially or territorially authorized retailer

Additional information on sales data

The requirement to report sales of packaged cannabis into and within provincial or territorial retail networks is determined by whether there was a financial transaction for the cannabis.

If no financial transaction occurred, simply report the reduction and addition to the appropriate inventory type (under packaged inventory, there are cannabis product categories).

If a financial transaction for the actual cannabis occurred, then report as a sale to a retailer, distributor, consumer or intra-industry. Both the quantity and corresponding dollar value should be recorded in the period in which the ownership of the cannabis is transferred (for example the month in which the cannabis is shipped). This could occur at "freight on board – shipper" or "freight on board – receiver", depending on the terms of the sales contract.

These scenarios are applicable whether the shipment occurs between two sites owned by the same company, two companies owned by the same parent company, or two unrelated companies.

Providing additional context on data

Provincial or territorial reporting authorities are able to provide additional context on the data that is being provided in monthly reports. This can be used to explain data outliers and ensure that the data is processed effectively and efficiently.

For those who prefer to submit a report by manual entry, additional context can be provided in a section called "Additional information" that shows up within the list of sections required in a given report.

For those who prefer to submit a report by .csv file upload, the field is accessible only after the .csv file is uploaded. To find this field:

1. Navigate to the Cannabis tracking reports section
2. Under Submitted cannabis tracking reports, locate the report for the given month and year
3. Click on the Additional information icon, which is where additional context can be provided
4. Make sure to save the additional context that you have provided. Click on Save and close 

Error messages

Error messages are provided to the reporter as a means of data validation prior to the submission of a monthly report. The messages highlight corrections that need to be made for the system to accept the report.

Manual entry

System parameters which have been established on reporting fields in the CTLS will result in automated error messages if they are not met. The error messages will appear next to the reporting field that you are entering data on. It is important to address the error message before proceeding to the next section.

File upload

If a .csv file encounters ten or fewer error messages, detailed error messages will appear on the file upload page which reference the row and the column with the error in the .csv file. Corrections must be made in order for the system to accept the file.

If a .csv file contains more than ten error messages, the system will provide a .txt file which the reporter can download to view a list of all specific errors.

Frequently encountered error message

Error message: "An error has occurred: Object reference not set to an instance of an object"

This error message shows up when the following exists in your .csv file:

• Hidden rows: To find out whether you have hidden rows of data, please open your .csv file using the Notepad application. If there are hidden rows of data, you will notice commas in Notepad
• Format of data or characters: Make sure that there is no underlined, bold or italic data or characters
• Dollar values: Make sure that there is no more than two decimal places for dollar values

Changing a previously submitted report

Provincial or territorial reporting authorities are able to request deactivation of a previously submitted report, whether it be a manual entry report or a .csv file upload. To use this feature:

1. In the left-hand menu, click on Cannabis tracking reports
2. Under the Submitted cannabis tracking reports section, locate the report for the given month and year
3. Click on the Cancel icon and a message will ask for confirmation that you are looking to deactivate this particular report. Click on Confirm

Health Canada will be notified of the deactivation request and will action it in the system. The contact for the provincial or territorial reporting authority will receive an email confirming that the report has been deactivated and that a replacement report is required within 2 business days.

If a replacement report is submitted late, Health Canada will follow up with the contact for the provincial or territorial reporting authority.

For minor corrections, it is also possible for the Health Canada officer to make the corrections directly in the system on your behalf. Please email ctls-bi-sscdl-ie@hc-sc.gc.ca about the corrections required. It is up to the officer to determine whether the correction will be made directly.

Reviewing submitted reports

Reporting Parties are able to view previously submitted monthly reports.

In the CTLS:

1. In the left-hand menu, click on Cannabis tracking reports
2. Under the Submitted cannabis tracking reports section, locate the report by Licence ID and by adjusting the filters for the specific month and year. It is also possible to filter for the report status (Submitted, Invalid, Cancellation requested, and On hold)
3. Click on the View icon
4. It will open up a new window that allows you to review each section of the previously submitted report
5. To end viewing of the previously submitted report, click on the back button until the Cannabis tracking reports section appears