While AGLC offices will be closed from December 24, 2025 to January 1, 2026, a number of services remain available. The Customer Care Centre will remain open with modified hours.
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The Safe Food for Canadians Regulations has specific requirements if a liquor product:
In these cases, organic labelling requirements must be followed, and valid organic certificates must be acquired and retained.
Products must be certified organic according to the Canadian Organic Standards. A product can be certified organic if it has been certified by a Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) accredited certification body to meet the Canadian Organic Standards. Liquor suppliers of domestic product are expected to ensure their organic products comply with these requirements.
The Canada Organic Regime does not apply to organic products that are only sold within a province or territory and do not display the Canada organic logo. For these products, the CFIA would verify on complaint that organic claims are truthful and not misleading, as required under the Food and Drugs Act as well as the Safe Food for Canadians Act.
Imported organic products may be certified to the Canadian Organic Standards by a CFIA accredited certification body or be certified in accordance with an equivalency arrangement established between Canada and the exporting country. Where an equivalency arrangement is in place, organic products must be certified by a certification body accredited by that country and recognized by Canada.
Existing equivalency arrangements:
As per the Canada Organic Regime import requirements from CFIA, anyone who imports organic products must be able to present a valid organic certificate at any time, including at the time of import. To fulfill this requirement, AGLC requires a valid organic certificate that meets the Canadian Organic Standard for every imported organic product.
Effective May 26, 2025, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) requires a valid organic certificate in English or French be provided for shipment of organic products coming into Canada. Once in effect, failure to provide a digital copy of the organic certificate will result in the shipment being rejected until the information is provided.
Agencies are responsible for providing organic certificates to AGLC and ensuring compliance with CFIA organic certificate requirements.
Submit valid organic certificates and declaration forms to organic-certificates@aglc.ca when registering imported organic products in the Liquor Agency Portal (LAP).
Submit valid organic certificates and declaration forms to organic-certificates@aglc.ca to ensure timely custom clearance of your products.
Certificates are normally valid for one year from issue date. Unless products have been removed or archived, renewed certificates along with declaration form must be submitted to organic-certificates@aglc.ca prior to the certificate losing its validity.
Domestic organic products do not require organic certificates to be submitted.
Imported organic products must be certified by a certification body accredited by country of origin and recognized by Canada. Certificates must be issued by CFIA accredited certification body or certified in accordance with an equivalency arrangement established between Canada and the exporting country.
Moving forward, AGLC will use the declaration form to support its review of organic certificates. The declaration will provide AGLC with necessary information about the organic product(s) and validity of organic certificate. Each certificate must be accompanied by a declaration form.
Agencies are responsible for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of information provided in the declaration form. Only those products that are registered with AGLC or in the process of being registered should be included on the declaration form. Any non-AGLC products listed on the certificate should be excluded.
Questions? Please email organic-certificates@aglc.ca.
Please refer to Organic products - Canadian Food Inspection Agency (canada.ca) for additional information.
