Vaping Products Promotion Regulations (SOR/2020-143)

Definition

Marginal note:Definition of Act

1 In these Regulations, Act means the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act.

PART 1Advertising and Point of Sale Promotion

Advertising

Marginal note:Advertising — young persons

• 2 (1) For the purposes of section 30.701 of the Act, a vaping product or a vaping product-related brand element must not be promoted by means of advertising done in a manner that allows the advertising to be seen or heard by young persons.

• Marginal note:Exceptions

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to the following types of advertising:

  • (a) subject to paragraph (b), visual advertising that is located at the point of sale, if the conditions set out in paragraphs 6(1)(a) to (d) are met;

  • (b) advertising on a sign that is located at a point of sale that is a retail establishment where vaping products are sold if

    • (i) the conditions set out in paragraphs 7(1)(a) to (e) are met, or

    • (ii) the sign indicates only the availability at the establishment and price of vaping products and provincial legislation that governs the retail establishment applies to signs promoting vaping products;

  • (c) advertising in a publication that is addressed and sent to an adult who is identified by name; and

  • (d) advertising in a publication that is provided on request to an adult at a point of sale that is a retail establishment where vaping products are sold.

Point of Sale Promotion

Marginal note:Display — vaping product

• 3 (1) For the purposes of section 30.8 of the Act, a vaping product must not be displayed, at the point of sale, in a manner that allows it to be seen by young persons.

• Marginal note:Exception — provincial legislation

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a point of sale that is a retail establishment where vaping products are sold if provincial legislation that governs the retail establishment prohibits vaping products from being displayed in a manner that allows them to be seen by young persons.

Marginal note:Display — package

• 4 (1) For the purposes of section 30.8 of the Act, the package of a vaping product must not be displayed, at the point of sale, in a manner that allows the package to be seen by young persons.

• Marginal note:Exception — provincial legislation

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a point of sale that is a retail establishment where vaping products are sold if provincial legislation that governs the retail establishment prohibits the packages of vaping products from being displayed in a manner that allows the packages to be seen by young persons.

Marginal note:Display — brand element

• 5 (1) For the purposes of section 30.8 of the Act, a thing that displays a vaping product-related brand element must not be displayed, at the point of sale, in a manner that allows the brand element to be seen by young persons.

• Marginal note:Exception — provincial legislation

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a point of sale that is a retail establishment where vaping products are sold if provincial legislation that governs the retail establishment prohibits, directly or indirectly, vaping product-related brand elements from being displayed in a manner that allows them to be seen by young persons.

Marginal note:Visual advertising — general conditions

• 6 (1) For the purposes of section 30.8 of the Act, a vaping product or a vaping product-related brand element must not, subject to subsection (2) and section 7, be promoted by means of a visual advertisement at the point of sale unless the following conditions are met:

  • (a) only one such advertisement is located at the point of sale;

  • (b) the advertisement indicates only the availability at the point of sale and price of vaping products;

  • (c) the advertisement does not include any visual, sound or other effects that are likely to draw attention to it; and

  • (d) the advertisement uses only black characters on a white background.

• Marginal note:Exception — visibility

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of visual advertising done in a manner that does not allow the advertising to be seen by young persons.

Marginal note:Signs — specific conditions

• 7 (1) For the purposes of section 30.8 of the Act, a vaping product or a vaping product-related brand element must not, subject to subsections (2) and (3), be promoted by means of advertising on a sign that is located at a point of sale that is a retail establishment where vaping products are sold, unless the following conditions are met:

  • (a) the sign indicates only the availability at the establishment and price of vaping products;

  • (b) only one such sign is located at the establishment;

  • (c) the sign does not include any visual, sound or other effects that are likely to draw attention to it;

  • (d) the sign uses only black characters on a white background; and

  • (e) the sign is rectangular and does not exceed 3 600 cm² in area.

• Marginal note:Exception — provincial legislation

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply if provincial legislation that governs the retail establishment applies to signs promoting vaping products.

• Marginal note:Exception — visibility

  (3) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of advertising on a sign and that is done in a manner that does not allow the advertising to be seen by young persons.

PART 2Required Information in Advertising

Health Warning

Marginal note:Advertising — list of health warnings

• 8 (1) For the purposes of section 30.7 of the Act, a vaping product or a vaping product-related brand element must not be promoted by means of advertising unless it conveys one of the health warnings set out in the document entitled List of Health Warnings for Vaping Product Advertising, as amended from time to time and published by the Government of Canada on its website.

• Marginal note:Amended list

  (2) If the List of Health Warnings for Vaping Product Advertising is amended, advertising may convey a health warning that was set out in the previous version of the List for a period of 60 days after the day on which the new version of that List is published by the Government of Canada.

Marginal note:Exceptions to section 8

9 Section 8 does not apply to the following types of advertising:

• (a) the advertising of a vaping product, if the vaping product is the subject of an authorization, including a licence, issued under the Food and Drugs Act authorizing its sale;

• (b) the advertising of a vaping product or a vaping product-related brand element, if provincial legislation that governs the advertising of such a product or brand element requires a health warning to be conveyed in the advertising;

• (c) advertising at the point of sale that indicates only the availability at the point of sale and price of vaping products; and

• (d) advertising on a sign that is located at a point of sale that is a retail establishment where vaping products are sold and that indicates the availability at the establishment and price of vaping products, as well as other information that is required by the provincial legislation referred to in subsection 7(2).

Marginal note:Single health warning

10 Every advertisement of a vaping product or a vaping product-related brand element must convey a single health warning.

Marginal note:Official languages

• 11 (1) If a health warning is conveyed in advertising that uses both official languages, or another language, it must be conveyed in both official languages.

• Marginal note:Only one official language

  (2) If a health warning is conveyed in advertising that uses only one official language, or one official language and another language, it must be conveyed in only that official language.

Attribution

Marginal note:Attribution of health warning

12 Every advertisement of a vaping product or a vaping product-related brand element must attribute the health warning to its source in accordance with section 22, 29 or 36.

Presentation of Required Information

Visual Advertising

General Requirements

Marginal note:Application of sections 14 to 23

13 Subject to section 24, sections 14 to 23 apply to all forms of visual advertising.

Marginal note:Definition of display area

14 For the purposes of section 15, subsection 17(1) and sections 18 and 19, display area, in respect of visual advertising, means the portion of the surface area of an advertisement on which the information required under this Part may be displayed and that,

• (a) in the case of visual advertising by video, occupies 100% of the surface area of the advertisement; and

• (b) in every other case, occupies — from the edge that is in the horizontal plane, that forms the upper limit of the advertisement and that extends from the left edge to the right edge of the advertisement — at least 20% of the surface area of the advertisement that is visible at first sight to consumers.

Marginal note:Required information — placement

15 Required information that is conveyed in visual advertising must be displayed on the display area.

Marginal note:Required information — visibility and legibility

16 Required information that is conveyed in visual advertising

• (a) must be clear and legible; and

• (b) must not be concealed or obscured.

Marginal note:Requirement — rectangular border

• 17 (1) Required information that is conveyed in visual advertising must be enclosed within a rectangular border that must be displayed on the display area in such a manner that it demarcates the information from any other information displayed on the advertisement.

• Marginal note:Appearance — rectangular border

  (2) The border must be the same colour as the type of the health warning and form a continuous line that has a uniform width of 3% of the length of the shortest side of the rectangle.

Marginal note:Display area

• 18 (1) Only the required information and the rectangular border that is referred to in section 17 may be displayed on the display area.

• Marginal note:Background

  (2) The display area must have a black or white background.

Marginal note:Presentation of health warning

19 The health warning must be centred in the display area, oriented parallel to the upper limit of the visual advertisement, and must occupy not less than 60% and not more than 70% of the display area.

Marginal note:Official languages — placement

20 If a health warning is conveyed in both official languages, each language version must be displayed immediately beside, below or above the other version, and the two texts must not be combined.

Marginal note:Health warning — legibility

• 21 (1) The health warning that is conveyed in visual advertising must be displayed in a standard sans serif type that

  • (a) is not compressed, expanded or decorative;

  • (b) as illustrated in the schedule, has a large x-height relative to the ascender or descender of the type; and

  • (c) is black, on a background that is white, or white, on a background that is black.

• Marginal note:Characters in text — health warning

  (2) Each character in the text must have the same font and type size.

• Marginal note:Text of health warning

  (3) The health warning must be displayed in such a manner that

  • (a) the first word is in upper case letters and bold type;

  • (b) the remaining text is capitalized in the same manner as in the List of Health Warnings for Vaping Product Advertising and it is not in bold type; and

  • (c) if the health warning is displayed on more than one line of text, the letters in each word appear on the same line of text.

Marginal note:Attribution

22 The attribution “Health Canada” must be displayed immediately beside or below the English version of a health warning that is displayed in visual advertising, and the attribution “Santé Canada” must be displayed immediately beside or below the French version of the health warning.

Marginal note:Attribution — legibility

• 23 (1) The attribution of a health warning must be displayed in such a manner that

  • (a) it meets the requirements set out in subsections 21(1) and (2);

  • (b) it is not in bold type; and

  • (c) the height of the type of the attribution is equal to the x-height, as illustrated in the schedule, of a lower case letter displayed in the text of the health warning.

• Marginal note:Measurement of height of type

  (2) The height of the type must be determined by measuring an upper case letter or a lower case letter that has an ascender or a descender, such as “b” or “p”.

• Marginal note:Characters in text

  (3) Each character in the text of the attribution must have the same font as the text of the health warning.

Advertising by Means of Telecommunication

Marginal note:Non-application of sections 14 to 23

• 24 (1) Sections 14 to 23 do not apply to required information that is conveyed in visual advertising transmitted by a means of telecommunication that does not allow the display of required information in accordance with the requirements set out in those sections.

• Marginal note:Application of sections 25 to 30

  (2) Sections 25 to 30 apply to required information that is conveyed in visual advertising transmitted by a means of telecommunication that does not allow the display of required information in accordance with the requirements set out in sections 14 to 23.

Marginal note:Required information — display

25 Required information must be displayed at the beginning of the advertising.

Marginal note:Required information — visibility and legibility

26 Required information

• (a) must be clear and legible; and

• (b) must not be concealed or obscured.

Marginal note:Official languages — display

27 If a health warning is conveyed in both official languages, each language version must be displayed before or after the other version.

Marginal note:Health warning — legibility

• 28 (1) The health warning must be displayed in a standard sans serif type that is not compressed, expanded or decorative.

• Marginal note:Characters in text

  (2) Each character in the text of the health warning must have the same font and type size.

• Marginal note:Text of health warning

  (3) The health warning must be displayed in such a manner that

  • (a) the text is presented in a consolidated manner, without any intervening words or images;

  • (b) the first word is in upper case letters;

  • (c) the remaining text is capitalized in the same manner as in the List of Health Warnings for Vaping Product Advertising; and

  • (d) if the health warning is displayed on more than one line of text, the letters in each word appear on the same line of text.

Marginal note:Attribution

29 The attribution “Health Canada” must be displayed immediately after the English version of the health warning that is displayed in the advertising, and the attribution “Santé Canada” must be displayed immediately after the French version of the health warning.

Marginal note:Attribution — legibility

30 The attribution of a health warning must be displayed

• (a) in a standard sans serif type that is not compressed, expanded or decorative; and

• (b) in the same font and type size as the health warning.

Video Advertising

Marginal note:Required information

31 Required information that is conveyed in visual advertising by video must be displayed at the end of the advertising.

Marginal note:Health warning — minimum duration

32 A health warning that is conveyed in visual advertising by video must be displayed for at least

• (a) four seconds, if the health warning is displayed in only one official language; or

• (b) eight seconds, if the health warning is displayed in both official languages.

Audio Advertising

Marginal note:Application of sections 34 to 36

33 Sections 34 to 36 apply to all kinds of audio advertising.

Marginal note:Required information — placement

34 Required information that is conveyed in audio advertising must be conveyed at the end of the audio advertising and must not be combined with any other audio information.

Marginal note:Requirements

35 The following requirements apply to the health warning that is conveyed in audio advertising:

• (a) the health warning must be conveyed in its entirety at the same speed, volume and tone as the main message, without any word being emphasized more than any other;

• (b) the health warning must be conveyed at the same speed, volume and tone in both official languages, if the advertising uses both official languages or another language; and

• (c) the health warning must be conveyed without any music or background sound.

Marginal note:Attribution

36 The attribution “This is a Health Canada warning:” must immediately precede the English version of the health warning that is conveyed in audio advertising and the attribution “Ce message est une mise en garde de Santé Canada :” must immediately precede the French version of the health warning.

Audio-Visual Advertising by Video

Marginal note:Required information — audio-visual advertising by video

37 In the case of audio-visual advertising by video, the audio and visual components of required information must be conveyed simultaneously.

Coming into Force

Marginal note:30th day after publication

• 38 (1) Subject to subsection (2), these Regulations come into force on the 30th day after the day on which they are published in the Canada Gazette, Part II.

• Marginal note:60th day after publication

  (2) Sections 3 and 4 come into force on the 60th day after the day on which these Regulations are published in the Canada Gazette, Part II.

SCHEDULE(Paragraphs 21(1)(b) and 23(1)(c))