Portage is Crosspoint’s market-entry service for international brands. We take a product that already works at home and make it ready, compliant, stocked and selling in Canada, with one team accountable from the border to the shelf.
Category fit, Canadian shelf pricing, landed cost and the right first channels.
Labels, licences and product requirements for Canadian retail, sorted before anything ships.
Freight, customs and warehousing, coordinated with our logistics partners.
Listings at Canadian retailers, plus the demand to move product once it’s there.
Customs, food safety, bilingual labels, Quebec’s language rules, barcodes and packaging fees. Here is the checklist we work through for every product, and which phase of Portage covers each step.
01 · Customs & trade
Every commercial importer of record needs a CRA Business Number with an import-export (RM) program account. A foreign brand can import in its own name as a Non-Resident Importer, or work through a Canadian importer of record.
Importers must be registered in the CBSA’s CARM Client Portal and, since May 20, 2025, post their own financial security (a customs bond or cash deposit) to have goods released before duties and taxes are paid. A customs broker’s bond no longer covers the importer.
The HS classification and country of origin set the duty rate and whether a trade agreement (such as CUSMA, CETA or CPTPP) lowers it. US-origin goods also need checking against Canada’s 2026 surtax list: listed goods carry a 15%, 25% or 50% surtax even when they qualify for CUSMA.
GST is charged on most commercial imports when they clear. A business registered for GST/HST can generally recover it as an input tax credit, so registration is part of the set-up.
A complete commercial invoice, transport documents and, where a preferential rate is claimed, proof of origin. Values, descriptions and quantities have to match the goods, the labels and the declaration.
02 · Food safety
Businesses that import food into Canada need a Safe Food for Canadians (SFC) licence from the CFIA, applied for through My CFIA.
Official source: CFIA: Importing food, a step-by-step guideLicence holders must have preventive controls and, in most cases, a written preventive control plan (PCP) showing how they make sure the food and the foreign supplier meet Canadian requirements. Small businesses with $100K or less in gross annual food sales still need preventive controls but not a written plan.
Official source: CFIA: Preventive controlsRecords that let you trace each lot one step back to the supplier and one step forward to the customer, ready to hand over quickly in a recall.
Meat, dairy, fish and seafood, eggs and fresh produce carry extra conditions, from permits to certificates to specific foreign-site requirements. These are checked product by product before anything is booked.
03 · Labels & packaging
Mandatory label information appears in both official languages: the product’s common name or identity, net quantity and, for food, ingredients and the Nutrition Facts table. The dealer’s name and address may appear in either language.
Common name, list of ingredients with priority allergens, a Canadian-format Nutrition Facts table, net quantity in metric units, a durable life date where required, and the name and principal place of business of the responsible company.
Official source: CFIA: Labelling legislative frameworkA food wholly made outside Canada must show that it is imported: either the foreign manufacturer’s name and address, “Imported by / Importé par” (or “Imported for / Importé pour”) with the Canadian company’s details, or the Canadian company with the country of origin.
Official source: CFIA: Name and principal place of businessSince January 1, 2026, prepackaged foods that meet or exceed the thresholds for saturated fat, sugars or sodium must carry Health Canada’s bilingual magnifying-glass symbol on the front of the package, unless an exemption applies.
Official source: Health Canada: Front-of-package nutrition symbolUnder the Charter of the French Language as amended by Bill 96, since June 1, 2025 only registered trademarks keep the trademark exception, and any generic or descriptive words inside a trademark (flavour, product type, claims) must also appear in French on the product.
Each size, flavour or variation needs its own GS1 GTIN and a barcode that scans first time. Many Canadian retailers also want the item’s bilingual product data and images loaded to GS1 Canada’s ECCnet Registry before they list it.
Official source: GS1 Canada: Barcodes04 · Health & consumer
The manufacturer or importer must notify Health Canada within 10 days of first selling a cosmetic in Canada, and update the notification within 10 days of any change to the brand, name or formula. Ingredients are checked against Health Canada’s restrictions first.
Official source: Health Canada: Notification of cosmeticsVitamins, supplements and other natural health products need a product licence (an eight-digit NPN on the label) before sale, and the Canadian importer needs a site licence backed by good manufacturing practice evidence for each foreign site.
Official source: Health Canada: Site licensing guidanceMost other prepackaged consumer products need a bilingual product identity, net quantity in metric units, and the dealer’s name and principal place of business. Product-specific safety rules can also apply.
Official source: Consumer Packaging and Labelling RegulationsWhether a product is regulated as a food, a cosmetic, a natural health product or a drug depends on its ingredients, claims and intended use, and decides which of the rules above apply. Borderline products are classified before labels are designed.
05 · On the shelf
Provinces run extended producer responsibility programs for packaging. In Ontario, the Blue Box Regulation makes the brand holder, the Ontario importer or, failing those, the retailer responsible: producers register with RPRA, report what they supply and fund collection.
Official source: Ontario Regulation 391/21 (Blue Box)Each retailer has its own onboarding: vendor forms, item set-up, insurance, delivery and invoicing terms. We prepare these alongside the listing pitch so an accepted item can ship.
Stock is tracked by lot and best-before date from the warehouse to the store, so slow stock is rotated before it dates out and any recall is fast and narrow.
With these, we can confirm classification, landed cost and label changes for your product.
No. A foreign business can be the importer of record as a Non-Resident Importer, with a Business Number, CARM registration and its own financial security. Or a Canadian partner can act as importer for you. We help you choose the set-up that fits your volumes and margins.
Rarely as it is. Most foreign labels need French, a Canadian-format Nutrition Facts table, metric net quantity, the import declaration and, for many foods, the front-of-package symbol. We audit your artwork first, then adapt it rather than start over where we can.
Federal bilingual rules apply everywhere, and Quebec adds its own: since June 1, 2025 generic and descriptive words inside a trademark also have to appear in French, and only registered trademarks keep the trademark exception.
They might. Since September 8, 2026, Canada applies 15%, 25% or 50% surtaxes to a list of US-origin goods, and qualifying for CUSMA does not exempt them. We check your products against the current list before quoting a landed cost.
Yes. Natural health products need a product licence (NPN) before sale and a licensed Canadian importer; cosmetics need a Health Canada notification within 10 days of first sale. Classification is the first thing we confirm.
General information as of November 2026, not legal advice. Requirements depend on the product, its claims and where it is sold; we confirm the specifics for yours before anything ships.
Most brands entering Canada juggle a customs broker, a label designer, a distributor and an agency. With Portage, the same team that runs our Canadian brands runs yours.
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