Updated Oct. 8, 2026
Retailers in Canada have until Oct. 31, 2026, to sell cigarette packages that carry a new health information message on an extended upper slide-flap, according to Health Canada’s implementation schedule for the Tobacco Products Appearance, Packaging and Labelling Regulations.
Manufacturers had to start distributing cigarette packages with the new placement by July 31, 2026. The October date is the retailer deadline, the last step in a phased rollout that began when the regulations came into force on Aug. 1, 2023.
The message is a health information message meant to inform people about the benefits of quitting and to give cessation tips, Health Canada said. The department’s page does not reproduce the wording and refers readers to a separate page of health-related messages.
The change is about placement. Health information messages continue to appear on the inside of cigarette packages, Health Canada said, and the new location puts a message on the extended upper slide-flap.
Health Canada’s facts page on the regulations said appearance and packaging requirements for plain and standardized packages “remain largely unchanged.” Health warnings must cover at least 75 per cent of the display area for most tobacco product packages. The 50 to 75 per cent exception applies only to individually wrapped cigars in a clear overwrap, not to cigarettes.
Health warnings, health information messages and toxicity information rotate on a set cycle. For cigarettes, each rotation runs 24 months, and the first rotation ends July 31, 2026, according to the department.
The schedule has had several earlier steps. Retailers had to sell packages with new health warnings, health information messages and toxicity information by April 30, 2024. Retailers had to sell king size cigarettes bearing a health warning on each cigarette by July 31, 2024, and regular size cigarettes, little cigars with tipping paper and tubes with a health warning by April 30, 2025.
The regulations apply to every tobacco product intended for retail sale in Canada and to any package that contains one. Health Canada said manufacturers and retailers are responsible for their own compliance, and the department does not pre-approve package designs.
The department defines a retailer as a person engaged in a business that includes selling tobacco or vaping products to consumers. Entities that only package or distribute products on behalf of a manufacturer are not subject to the slide-flap provisions, it said.
Health Canada’s page does not set out a separate sell-through period beyond Oct. 31 and does not describe penalties. Its pages say questions from importers go to the Health Canada office in their region.
The packaging also carries a renewed design for the pan-Canadian, toll-free quit line number and web portal address for cessation services, the department said. The pages reviewed do not state the number or the web address. People who want help quitting should check with their provincial health authority or a pharmacist.
Sources: Health Canada’s Tobacco Products Appearance, Packaging and Labelling Regulations page and its facts page, and the regulations (SOR/2019-107) on the Justice Laws website.
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