Exporting to Canada. The licence is theirs, the paperwork behind it is yours.
In Canada nobody will ask you to get a licence. They'll ask you to back up someone else's, and the only place you'll notice the difference is in how much paperwork you have to produce.
The Safe Food for Canadians licence belongs to the importer, not the Italian producer. A business with no fixed place of business in Canada that qualifies as a non-resident importer can still apply, but it remains an obligation on the Canadian side.
That licence rests on a preventive control plan, and the plan includes checking the foreign supplier. In practice, the importer will ask you for procedures, analyses and documents, and ask for them in writing.
The label is bilingual. The Canadian agency states that mandatory information on consumer prepackaged food must appear in both official languages, French and English.
To ship, you need four standard documents (export invoice, packing list, transport document, customs export declaration), plus the CETA origin declaration on the invoice, and above €6,000 your REX number. The standard set is in the documents that go with a shipment.
This guide covers food in general. For two products the route changes before the country even comes into it: wine travels with excise duty and its accompanying document, and olive oil has marketing and labelling rules all of its own. If you export either to Canada, read this guide and the one for your product. The market detail is in wine in Canada, province by province and olive oil in Canada and the testing.
This piece is part of the guide to export operations for small food producers. The first thing a Canadian importer will ask you for is the spec sheet: the template to fill in is ready in Italian and English.
Who needs the licence
The licence to import food into Canada must be held by the business that brings the goods into the country, for the commodities they import. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency allows businesses with no fixed place of business in Canada to apply as non-resident importers; those with a fixed place of business there have to apply as established importers.
For an Italian producer selling to a Canadian distributor, the consequence is simple: the licence isn't your obligation. It only becomes your problem if the buyer doesn't have one, and then the deal stalls before it starts. It's the first question to ask.
The preventive control plan, and why it concerns you
Behind the licence there's a written document: the preventive control plan, which explains how the importer makes sure imported food is safe and compliant. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's guide is explicit about the level required:
“The SFCR requires that imported food be subject to the same level of hazard analysis and preventive food safety controls as food prepared in Canada.”
The same guide requires foreign suppliers to have preventive controls matching those in sections 47 to 81 of the Canadian regulations, or different controls that manage the risks just as effectively. In plain terms: someone has to describe in writing how you work, and that someone is you.
That's why a Canadian deal generates more paperwork than a European one. It isn't commercial mistrust: your buyer is filling in a document that has to stand up to an inspection, and they fill it in with what you send them.
The label in two languages
The general rule is set out in one line: “Mandatory information on consumer prepackaged food must be shown in both official languages, that is, French and English”. It applies to mandatory information, not to everything: the manufacturer's name and principal place of business can appear in just one language.
The exceptions exist, and they're narrow. They cover specialty foods, including imported foods that are little known in Canada and have no local equivalent; local foods sold only in the area where they're produced and neighbouring areas where one of the two official languages is the mother tongue of fewer than 10% of residents; and foods approved for a test market.
On paper, the specialty food exception looks tailor-made for a niche Italian product. In practice it's a judgement for the Canadian authority, not for you, and building a commercial launch on it is a gamble. Ask the buyer whether they intend to use it, before you print.
Customs preference exists, and it's claimed on the invoice
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada is in force, so preferential origin exists and is worth money to the buyer. The EUR.1 isn't used: preference is claimed with the origin declaration, and above the threshold you need REX. The difference between the origin documents is in EUR.1 or certificate of origin.
| Obligation | Whose it is | What you need to provide |
|---|---|---|
| SFC licenceto import | The importer's. A business with no fixed place of business in Canada can apply as a non-resident importer. |
Nothing, if the buyer has it. If they don't, the deal stalls here: ask on day one. |
| Preventive control planforeign supplier verification | The importer's, and it has to describe the assurances obtained from each foreign supplier. |
Procedures, hazard analysis, control measures and checks, in writing. It's the heaviest part. |
| Bilingual labelFrench and English | The business that places the product on the Canadian market, so in practice the importer. |
The content to be translated, meaning a complete, up-to-date spec sheet. There's no translation without the data. |
| Origin declarationCETA | Yours. Made on the invoice or another commercial document that describes the products in an identifiable way. |
Above €6,000 you need a REX registered exporter number, which you apply for at the Italian Customs Agency's offices. |
When the paperwork outgrows the person handling it
A market that asks for written procedures, analyses and periodic checks produces a volume of paperwork that doesn't end with the first shipment: it comes back with every renewal, every new product and every buyer inspection. It's a recurring load, not an entry cost.
That's when the documents need to come out of one person's folders and into a place where they're built from the same data, with documents filled in from the same source. With one rule that matters more than the technology, set out in Ethics: the system prepares and flags, but no document goes out until a person has read and approved it. On a supplier declaration, that sign-off is substance.
The Canadian bottleneck is nearly always on the buyer's side. If you tell us what your importer said about the licence, we'll tell you whether that answer holds up and which documents they'll ask you for next, so you can prepare them in advance instead of under pressure.
You'll hear back from a person, the same one who builds the systems, within 24 hours, with a read of your situation rather than a quote. Get in touch here; one line is enough.
Questions and answers
Do you need a licence to export food to Canada?
Not as the Italian producer. The Safe Food for Canadians licence is needed by the business that imports the goods into Canada, for the commodities they import. A business with no fixed place of business in Canada can apply as a non-resident importer; one with a fixed place of business has to apply as an established importer.
The question to ask the buyer on day one is whether they already hold the licence for your product category. If they don't, the deal stalls before it starts.
What is the preventive control plan and why does it concern me?
It's the written document in which the importer explains how they make sure imported food is safe and compliant. The Canadian guide says imported food must be subject to the same level of hazard analysis and preventive controls as food prepared in Canada.
That plan includes checking the foreign supplier, meaning you. In practice, the importer will ask you for procedures, control measures and checks in writing, and use them to fill in a document that has to stand up to an inspection.
Does the label for Canada have to be in English and French?
Yes, for the mandatory information. The Canadian agency states that mandatory information on consumer prepackaged food must appear in both official languages. The manufacturer's name and principal place of business can stay in one language.
The exceptions cover specialty foods, local foods and foods approved for a test market. These are judgements for the Canadian authority: ask the buyer whether they intend to use one before you print a batch.
Do you need an EUR.1 to export to Canada?
No. With Canada, the customs preference under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement is claimed with an origin declaration, made on the invoice or another commercial document that describes the products in enough detail to identify them.
Above €6,000 of value, the exporter must have registered exporter status and give their REX number, which you get by applying to the territorial offices of the Italian Customs Agency.
How long does it take to open the Canadian market?
It depends almost entirely on the buyer. If they already hold the licence for your category and have an active preventive control plan, the bottleneck becomes the paperwork you have to produce and the label translation.
If the licence still has to be applied for, or your category isn't covered by theirs, the timeline stretches by months and doesn't depend on you. That's why this question comes before any talk of prices and volumes.
Notes on sources
- Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Guide for food importers: prepare your preventive control plan, for the level of control required on imported food and the verification of foreign suppliers. The sentence in quotation marks is quoted word for word. Page opened on 6 September 2026, date modified 23 July 2026 according to the page.
- Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Bilingual food labelling, for the general rule, quoted word for word, and the three exemption categories, including the 10% of residents threshold. Page opened on 6 September 2026, date modified 3 September 2025 according to the page.
- Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency, document on the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, for the origin declaration and the registered exporter system.
- This page doesn't publish Canadian duty rates or taxes for individual tariff headings: they vary by product category and have to be looked up using your product's customs code.
The first question for a Canadian buyer isn't about price.
It's about the licence: if they have it for your category, the rest takes weeks; if they don't, it takes months that don't depend on you. At Itria we start from the outside and build tailored digital systems for exporters. For you, that means more enquiries, fewer losses and less manual work. Drop us a line about what's slowing you down. We'll make the first move: we'll look at what a buyer sees when they search for you, and tell you what we found. Even if we never end up working together.