This is from Health Canada, their guide to applications for cannabis licences:7.2 After submission
Once an application is submitted in the CTLS, there are a series of steps Health Canada undertakes to review and issue the licence as outlined below. It is important to note that in accordance with subsection 62(5) of the Cannabis Act, the Minister may request the submission of any additional information that pertains to the information contained in the application and that is necessary for the Minister to consider the application. This would be in the form of a request for more information as outlined in section 7.3.1 of this guide.
7.2.1 Application screening
- During screening, the application, attached documents and, if required, the submitted site evidence package are assessed for completeness, legibility and ability to be further assessed. For Processing, Cultivation, and Sale for Medical Purposes Licence applications there is a nonbinding 30 business day service standard for completion of screening of the application by Health Canada. Please note that application screening cannot take place until Health Canada receives the site evidence package (not applicable for sale for medical purposes without possession licences). The 30 day service standard will commence following payment of the applicable cost recovery fee for application screening and upon receipt of the complete application submission.
7.2.2 Review and security clearance
- Once an application has passed the screening stage, and security clearance applications are being processed, the application will undergo a detailed review of both documents submitted through the CTLS and, if required, visual evidence submitted as a part of the site evidence package to verify that the requirements are met. Health Canada will work with the RCMP on security clearance applications. Refer to Security Clearances under the Cannabis Act and Regulations for more information on the security clearance process.
7.2.3 Pre-licensing and approval process
Following the review of this information, an on-site pre-licence inspection by Health Canada inspectors may be deemed necessary prior to further licensing decisions. If an inspection is required, the inspection team will contact the applicant. In the case where an on-site pre-licence inspection is not required, the licence issuance will be based on the information submitted to Health Canada.
7.2.4 Issuance of licence:
Once all information has been reviewed, including the results and observations from a pre-licence inspection, if necessary, and all security clearances have been granted, an initial licence for authorized activities is issued. A hard copy of the licence as well as an accompanying issuance letter detailing any conditions around the issued licence is mailed to the identified mailing address. In addition, all security-cleared key personnel are sent letters regarding the status of their security clearances for that site, under that application. Following issuance of the licence, Health Canada holds a teleconference with the new licence holder to discuss the licence, including any conditions.
Immediately after issuance of their licence, licence holders will generally be permitted to sell cannabis, as authorized by their licence as set out in the Cannabis Regulations and in accordance with any licence conditions. Cultivation and processing licence holders will generally be restricted to the sale of cannabis products that are cannabis plants and cannabis plant seeds to a holder of a licence for sale, and a person authorized to sell cannabis under a provincial Act by reason of subsection 69(1) of the Cannabis Act. The sale of cannabis products of all other cannabis classes will usually be restricted by a condition placed on the licence. For processing licence holders, to gain authorization for the sale of cannabis products of all other cannabis classes, an amendment application must be submitted to change the condition on the licence. Refer to the Cannabis Licensing Management Guide for more information on how to complete an amendment submission.
For CanniFarms the submission of the evidence package was made on 27/10/2019.
Step 7.2.1 has been completed.
Step 7.2.2 to my understanding has now been fully completed.
Step 7.2.3 appears to be where we are at now. Note: that last I had heard HC were not conducting on-site pre-licence inspections due to COVID-19 and instead were temporarily relying on the evidence, including video footage, as submitted.
When I started this thread my understanding was that we were in Step 7.2.2, so hopefully we should be very close to being issued the licence. The resolution today to ratify the CanniFarms deal was removed so it still may not be as close as I'd expected/hoped.
RGI has to hold an AGM prior to the end of November so I expect the CanniFarms resolution will be reintroduced for that meeting next month. If a licence is granted in the meantime CanniFarms would hopefully start production asap rather than wait for the deal to be fully finalised. With flat beds we'd be looking at harvest within about 120 days, ie prior to the end of Q1 2021.
