About List B and personal importation

"Personal importation" of veterinary drugs means that you are bringing a health product into Canada for an animal that is under your care, including:

  • food-producing animals
  • animals intended to be consumed as food (including horses)

This means that a drug that is not authorized for sale in Canada can only be imported for personal use if it is on List B: List of Certain Veterinary Drugs Which May Be Imported But Not Sold.

Products on List B cannot be:

  • imported for sale or given to someone else, even when the distribution is for free
  • imported in quantities that are more than a 90-day supply based on the directions for use

We restrict personal importation of foreign veterinary drug products to protect food safety and public health.

Changes to List B

You can request to have a veterinary drug added to List B if it meets all of the necessary conditions.

We update List B based on the number of requests received, including when:

  • Health Canada approves a veterinary drug to be added to the list
  • there is new information about a veterinary drug that is already on the list

All changes to List B go into effect as soon as they are made public on our website.

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