Canada

v. 28 – Q4 2023

Market Executive Summary There are currently no regulatory barcoding or serialization requirements for pharmaceutical products in Canada apart from vaccines: Vaccine Information Database System (VIDS) requirement.
There are widely supported recommendations for optional data standards and data carriers based on a 2D DM barcoding implementation roadmap issued by GS1 Canada, aligned with the requirements for vaccines barcoding.
There are also recommendations regarding the use of the GS1 ECCnet system to support the secure exchange of pharmaceutical product master data that is, in fact, required by some trading partners and includes the capture of the GTIN/DIN relationship in the GS1 ECCnet system.
See GS1 link below:
https://gs1ca.org/gs1ca-components/documents/2D_DataMatrix_Implementation_Roadmap.pdf
Key Dates
  • 2025: GS1 roadmap (May 2021) to extend coding/scanning system-wide by 2025
  • December 31, 2017: Aim to achieve coverage of 80% of vaccine products carrying 2D bar codes on secondary pack and linear barcode on shipper case by January 1, 2018
  • December 31, 2016: Aim to achieve coverage of 80% of vaccine products carrying 2D bar codes on the primary pack by January 1, 2017

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