Every required word on the pack, twice
Information that the Cosmetic Regulations require on the label of a cosmetic must be shown both in English and in French, with the INCI name the only exception, and no cosmetic may be sold in Canada unless it is labelled in accordance with those Regulations.
This is a packaging cost rather than a filing cost, so it is the rule most likely to be discovered after artwork is approved, and the exemption for INCI names is why an ingredient list can look compliant while the panel beside it is not.
93 of a possible 97Tier A, primary document or measured outcome. Nothing at this tier is allowed past 97, however good it looks.
Verified August 5, 2026Rechecked every 365 days, next by August 5, 2027.
Held since August 5, 2026A rule, law or policy that limits what you may do or say. The earliest date we are willing to say this held. It may well have been true before that; we do not backdate a record past the evidence we have read. Supported, version 1.
This entry is wrong if
Section 18 is amended to drop the bilingual requirement, or Health Canada states that English-only labelling satisfies the Cosmetic Regulations.
Written before the record was published, not after. If you can show this, send it to hello@tryorbt.com and the correction goes on the record with the entry.
Evidence
- Tier Aregulation
Department of Justice Canada (Justice Laws Website): Cosmetic Regulations, C.R.C., c. 869
18 The information required by these Regulations to be provided on the label of a cosmetic must (a) be shown both in English and in French, except for the INCI name; and (b) be clearly legible and remain so throughout the useful life of the cosmetic
Read 2026-08-05 · Open government · page hash
0c5bc8053b23 - Tier Aregulation
Department of Justice Canada (Justice Laws Website): Cosmetic Regulations, C.R.C., c. 869
16 No person shall sell a cosmetic unless it is labelled in accordance with these Regulations.
Quoted because the language requirement on its own reads as guidance. This is the sentence that makes it a condition of sale.
Read 2026-08-05 · Open government · page hash
0c5bc8053b23
History
- v1created
Initial entry from primary regulator text, read 2026-08-05. Where the publisher prints an enacting provision without a commencement date, the asserted-from date is the day we read the page rather than a date we did not verify.
Append-only. Nothing in this list is edited or removed once written, including the entries that record our own mistakes. Every change to every record is on the corrections page, and the same log is in entries.json under revisions.
Cite this entry
“Every required word on the pack, twice”, The Orbt Market Index 0.1.0, entry omr:ca:the-label-must-be-in-english-and-french, retrieved September 9, 2026, https://tryorbt.com/markets/entry/ca--the-label-must-be-in-english-and-french. Dataset: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22679129
Orbt, "Every required word on the pack, twice," Orbt Market Index, entry omr:ca:the-label-must-be-in-english-and-french, verified August 5, 2026, https://tryorbt.com/markets/entry/ca--the-label-must-be-in-english-and-french.
@misc{orbt-ca-the-label-must-be-in-english-and-french,
title = {Every required word on the pack, twice},
author = {{Orbt}},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.22679129},
note = {The Orbt Market Index 0.1.0 (dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22679129), entry omr:ca:the-label-must-be-in-english-and-french. Verified 2026-08-05},
howpublished = {\url{https://tryorbt.com/markets/entry/ca--the-label-must-be-in-english-and-french}},
license = {Orbt Index Public Licence. Free to quote and cite; not to redistribute}
}For a deck, a brief or a chat.
Free to quote, cite and act on. Not to resell or redistribute — the sources ask that of us, and each one’s terms are named. Machine-readable: entries.json carries this record under the id omr:ca:the-label-must-be-in-english-and-french, with the same evidence and falsifier.
Read next
Also true of Canada
What else we hold on this market, heaviest first.