TL;DR for buyers
Canada requires English and French on consumer cosmetic packaging. The product name, function, net quantity, warnings, and usage directions must be bilingual; the INCI ingredient list stays in its standard international names. Sticker overlays are legal but factory-applied bilingual labels look cleaner and signal a serious distributor. If a supplier can’t show you compliant EN/FR labels, that’s your liability on the shelf — not theirs.
Labelling is the single most common reason a Korean cosmetic gets pulled from a Canadian shelf — and it’s almost always avoidable. For a retailer, you don’t need to memorize the regulations, but you do need to know enough to spot a non-compliant product before it reaches your store. This checklist covers exactly that.
Why bilingual labelling is non-negotiable in Canada
Under the federal Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act and the Cosmetic Regulations, mandatory consumer information on cosmetics must appear in both English and French anywhere in Canada — not only in Quebec. This catches a lot of grey-market imports that arrive with Korean-and-English-only packaging. Selling a non-compliant product exposes the retailer, not just the importer.
What must be bilingual (and what doesn’t)
Must be EN/FR
- Product identity / function — what the product is (e.g., “baby lotion / lotion pour bébé”).
- Net quantity — metric, in both languages where worded.
- Directions for use and any cautions / warnings.
- “Keep out of reach of children”-type safety statements.
Stays in standard form
- INCI ingredient list — international nomenclature (Latin/standard names) is accepted as-is. You don’t translate “Aqua” or “Glycerin”.
- Company name and address — the dealer/importer identity.
Common trap: a product that’s “English + Korean” with a small French sticker covering only the name. The directions and warnings must also be French. A half-stickered label still fails.
Sticker overlays vs factory labels
Both are legal, but they’re not equal in practice:
- Sticker overlays — fast and compliant if done fully, but they can peel, look added-on, and sometimes cover original information improperly. Acceptable for short runs.
- Factory-applied bilingual labels — printed for the Canadian market from the start. Cleaner shelf presentation and a strong signal that the distributor takes the market seriously.
The 6-point label check before you stock
- Is the product name/function in EN and FR?
- Are directions and warnings in EN and FR (not just the name)?
- Is the net quantity metric and properly shown?
- Is there a dealer name and Canadian address?
- Is the INCI list present and legible?
- For any SPF/sunscreen: is there an NPN? (SPF is a drug in Canada, not a cosmetic — different rules entirely.)
The SPF exception worth repeating
If a Korean brand offers a sunscreen, Health Canada treats it as a drug requiring a Natural Product Number (NPN), not just bilingual cosmetic labelling. Most Korean SPF products are not NPN-cleared. Don’t stock SPF unless the NPN is shown — bilingual labelling alone is not enough for that category, and it is not part of the assortment we carry in Canada.
How a compliant distributor removes this risk
The cleanest path for a retailer is to source from a distributor that handles labelling before the product ever reaches you. Mongdies, the brand we carry under official Canadian distribution, ships with factory-applied English/French labels and a Cosmetic Notification Form on file with Health Canada — so the compliance work is already done when the box lands in your stockroom.
Want products that arrive Canada-compliant out of the box?
en/fr factory labels · cnf on file · we reply within 2 business days · free shipping $500+ in bc, $800+ rest of canada · net-30
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