Medical cannabis fee exemption changes

Summary#

The Order Amending the Cannabis Fees Order changes which cannabis licence holders can skip the annual regulatory fee for selling only for medical purposes. It adjusts deadlines so some businesses exiting the medical market won’t be unfairly charged, and it removes a year‑end paperwork requirement. The order took effect on August 28, 2024.

What it does#

• Adds a new exemption so a holder of a licence for sale for medical purposes does not have to sign a declaration of intent in the fiscal year if:
  • their licence is revoked or expires on or before September 30, or
  • they told Health Canada by September 30 that they intend to stop all licensed activities, or
  • they requested revocation of their licence on or before September 30.
• Clarifies that if a licence holder told Health Canada they were stopping activities, they do not have to re-submit the declaration of intent in later years until they resume those activities.
• Gives more time in an entry year to submit the declaration of intent: 60 days (instead of 30 days) after the licence’s earliest effective date.
• Changes the regular-year deadline for the declaration of intent from April 30 to September 30 of each fiscal year.
• Removes the requirement to submit a statement of cannabis revenue and a year‑end attestation that all sales were for medical purposes.

Who's affected#

• Holders of a licence for sale for medical purposes are the main group affected.
• Health Canada will implement the change and verify exemptions using available tracking information.
• Many of the affected licence holders are small businesses — about 89% of impacted holders were identified as small businesses in the department’s analysis.
• The rule change was aimed at those who previously lost the exemption in their “exit year”; in 2022–2023, 19 out of 55 applicants were disqualified under the old wording.

Why it matters#

• It prevents some licence holders who are leaving the medical cannabis market from being forced into a misleading declaration or losing the exemption just because they notified Health Canada of their exit.
• It reduces paperwork and deadline pressure by moving the deadline from April 30 to September 30 and removing the year‑end revenue attestation.
• Financially, affected licence holders could avoid paying the annual regulatory fee — the department used minimum fee amounts ($2,500 for micro licences and $23,000 for standard licences) to estimate savings. Across the group that had been disqualified, Health Canada estimates a present‑value benefit of $2,976,032 over ten years (about $423,720 annualized). For small businesses specifically, the present‑value benefit was estimated at $2,648,668 (about $377,111 annualized).
• The change keeps the original goal of the exemption: to support a supply of quality‑controlled cannabis for medical purposes while reducing needless compliance burden.