Cannabis tracking system under the Cannabis Act

A new national cannabis reporting and tracking system will launch on October 17, 2018 concurrently with the coming into force of the Cannabis Act. The Cannabis Tracking and Licensing System (CTLS) applies to public and private parties that are authorized to sell cannabis under provincial legislation, as well as to holders of federally issued licences for cultivation, processing and sale for medical purposes. The purpose of the CTLS is to allow the government to verify compliance with the Cannabis Act by tracking the movement of cannabis from cultivator to processor, from processor to province or retailer, and through to sales and to help detect and prevent the diversion of licit cannabis to the black market and illicit cannabis into the legal market. 

The CTLS encompasses six classes of licence holders (cultivation, processing, sale, analytical testing, research and cannabis drug licence) as well as provincial retail and distribution systems and requires reporting by the reporting parties, on a monthly basis, on their holdings in five classes of cannabis (dried cannabis, cannabis oil, fresh cannabis, cannabis plants and cannabis plant seeds.

The CTLS will be implemented under a web-based reporting platform developed by Health Canada and will require reporting entities to report on cannabis that is:

• Produced, obtained, purchased, returned, sent and sold;
• Destroyed, lost or stolen; and
• Used at each stage of production (for example, when it changes forms or is packaged for sale)

The CTLS will not require any reporting of personal information about consumers who purchase the cannabis at the retail level.