The temporary exemptions for the importation of hand sanitizers, which was announced March 27, 2020, as part of the Natural and Non-Prescription Health Products Directory (NNHPD)’s interim measures have now ended as of July 13, 2020.
The NNHPD has returned back to their 60-calendar day administrative processing time for a product licensing application as per their regular service standards. This means there will be no more expedited product licensing applications.
Site licensing applications will also return to their regular service standards of 35 or 65 business days depending on the type of Evidence of GMP compliance submitted and the number of sites involved.
Companies that manufacture, package, label, and/or import hand sanitizers most hold both product and site licences before they are approved to go to market in Canada.
Product Licences
No change is required for product licence holders at this time but sites that manufacture, package, label, or import hand sanitizers must be listed on the Product Licence Application.
Site Licences
Companies that have a COVID SL (e.g. COV0001) may continue selling their hand sanitizer products, however, these COVID SL’s will expire 60 days from a currently undetermined due date in the future by Health Canada. Should licence holders wish to maintain selling their product they are encouraged to switch to a regular Site Licence as soon as possible.
For more information about this update, or assistance with disinfectant product site licensing, product licensing, or importation, please contact dicentra.