Skip to content
Expodite

WTO notification · SPS

CanadaUpdated: check whether it is now adopted or in force

Alcoholic beverages – Canada

Official title

Proposal to transfer the maximum levels for ethyl carbamate in alcoholic beverages to the List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances in Foods

Canada issued an addendum on 28 July 2026 to the earlier SPS notification G/SPS/N/CAN/1587. Addenda often report that a measure was adopted, changed, postponed or withdrawn. The measure was first notified on 25 February 2025. The comment period closed on 5 May 2025.

Get alerts for this product and marketCheck what this means for your products

Expodite puts notifications like this one in your Updates centre, matched to the HS codes of your products and the markets you export to. Opens the requirements check for Canada in your Expodite account.

Source: WTO ePing (opens in a new tab). Summaries by Expodite, which is independent of the WTO.

Published here:

Updated here:

At a glance

Products

Ethyl carbamate

Notifying member
Canada
Status
Updated: check whether it is now adopted or in force
Objectives
  • Food safety
Area
SPS: Food safety, animal and plant healthSanitary and phytosanitary measures
Notification type
Regular notification
Document symbol
G/SPS/N/CAN/1587Latest notice: G/SPS/N/CAN/1587/Add.1
ICS classification
  • 67.160.10 Alcoholic beverages
Keywords
Human health, Food safety, Contaminants, Adoption/publication/entry into force of reg.

Key dates

Distributed by the WTO
Comment deadline
Closed on 5 May 2025
Proposed adoption
The proposed modifications will be legally enabled once published in Part 2 of Health Canada's List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances in Foods.
Proposed entry into force
Modifications to Part 2 of the List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances in Foods come into force the day they are made to the list.

How to comment

The comment period closed on 5 May 2025. You can still raise concerns about the measure with your country's WTO SPS enquiry point, quoting the document symbol G/SPS/N/CAN/1587/Add.1; it can take them up with Canada.

Find your country's enquiry point on WTO ePing (opens in a new tab)

What the notification says

Latest notice (⁨G/SPS/N/CAN/1587/Add.1⁩, 28 July 2026)

Modification to the list of contaminants (ethyl carbamate in alcoholic beverages)

Health Canada reviewed the non-regulatory maximum limits (MLs) for ethyl carbamate established in the List of Maximum Levels for Various Chemical Contaminants in Foods for various alcoholic beverages with the intent of transferring these MLs to the regulatory List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances in Foods and conducted a detailed achievability analysis for these products. As a result of the review, Health Canada has modified Part 2 of the List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances in Foods to set out maximum levels for ethyl carbamate in various alcoholic beverages under the new item E.1 and its corresponding paragraphs. The purpose of this document is to publicly announce Health Canada’s intention in this regard and to provide the appropriate contact information for those wishing to submit comments, inquiries or new scientific information relevant to the modifications.

Health Canada is proposing to transfer the maximum levels for ethyl carbamate in alcoholic beverages from the administrative List of Maximum Levels for Various Chemical Contaminants in Foods, to Part 2 of the regulatory List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances in Foods, maintaining the current value of the maximum levels but amending some of the product categories to better reflect the diverse market of alcoholic beverages. The Food and Nutrition Directorate’s evaluation on the risk management commitments for ethyl carbamate (published in May 2022 confirmed that the maximum levels for ethyl carbamate in alcoholic beverages currently included on the List of Maximum Levels for Various Chemical Contaminants continue to be health protective. The results of a detailed achievability analysis also found that for the large majority of the targeted alcoholic beverages, ethyl carbamate concentrations are able to meet (i.e., are below) their applicable maximum level. The purpose of the notice is to publicly announce Health Canada's intentions in this regard and provide the appropriate contact information for those wishing to submit comments on the proposal.

Notices on this measure

Every notice about this measure published here, newest first. Each one is the notifying member's own text.

  1. AddendumG/SPS/N/CAN/1587/Add.1

    Modification to the list of contaminants (ethyl carbamate in alcoholic beverages)

    Health Canada reviewed the non-regulatory maximum limits (MLs) for ethyl carbamate established in the List of Maximum Levels for Various Chemical Contaminants in Foods for various alcoholic beverages with the intent of transferring these MLs to the regulatory List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances in Foods and conducted a detailed achievability analysis for these products. As a result of the review, Health Canada has modified Part 2 of the List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances in Foods to set out maximum levels for ethyl carbamate in various alcoholic beverages under the new item E.1 and its corresponding paragraphs. The purpose of this document is to publicly announce Health Canada’s intention in this regard and to provide the appropriate contact information for those wishing to submit comments, inquiries or new scientific information relevant to the modifications.

    Open on WTO ePing (opens in a new tab)Official WTO document (opens in a new tab)

  2. Regular notificationG/SPS/N/CAN/1587

    Comment deadline: Closed on 5 May 2025

    Proposal to transfer the maximum levels for ethyl carbamate in alcoholic beverages to the List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances in Foods

    Health Canada is proposing to transfer the maximum levels for ethyl carbamate in alcoholic beverages from the administrative List of Maximum Levels for Various Chemical Contaminants in Foods, to Part 2 of the regulatory List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances in Foods, maintaining the current value of the maximum levels but amending some of the product categories to better reflect the diverse market of alcoholic beverages. The Food and Nutrition Directorate’s evaluation on the risk management commitments for ethyl carbamate (published in May 2022 confirmed that the maximum levels for ethyl carbamate in alcoholic beverages currently included on the List of Maximum Levels for Various Chemical Contaminants continue to be health protective. The results of a detailed achievability analysis also found that for the large majority of the targeted alcoholic beverages, ethyl carbamate concentrations are able to meet (i.e., are below) their applicable maximum level. The purpose of the notice is to publicly announce Health Canada's intentions in this regard and provide the appropriate contact information for those wishing to submit comments on the proposal.

    Open on WTO ePing (opens in a new tab)Official WTO document (opens in a new tab)

Sources

Expodite writes its summary from the official record. The notification and the documents it notifies are on the WTO's own websites.

All updates from Canada

  1. WTO notificationSPSProposed measure, not in force yet

    Proposal to modify two of the Lists of Permitted Food Additives (fruit and vegetable cellulose isolate); Proposal to modify the List of Permitted Food Enzymes (nuclease P1); and…

    Health Canada's Food and Nutrition Directorate completed premarket assessments of a number of food additive submissions seeking authorization for the use of: fruit and vegetable cellulose isolate as a stabilizing or thickening agent in cream for whipping at a maximum level of use of 2,000 ppm and…

    Symbol: G/SPS/N/CAN/1653

  2. WTO notificationSPSProposed measure, open for comments

    Modification to the List of Permitted Anticaking Agents (silicon dioxide)

    Health Canada's Food Directorate completed a premarket assessment of a food additive submission seeking authorization for the use of silicon dioxide as an anticaking agent in nutrient pre-mixes for use in infant formula. The outcome of the premarket assessment supports authorizing silicon dioxide…

    Symbol: G/SPS/N/CAN/1655Comments until 12 January 2027

  3. WTO notificationSPSProposed measure, not in force yet

    Proposal to modify the List of Permitted Food Additives with Other Purposes of Use (chloropentafluoroethane and octafluorocyclobutane)

    Health Canada has launched a consultation on a proposal to no longer allow chloropentafluoroethane and octafluorocyclobutane to be used as food additives by removing their respective entries from the List of Permitted Food Additives with Other Purposes of Use, as described in the notice. The…

    Symbol: G/SPS/N/CAN/1654

  4. WTO notificationTBTProposed measure, open for comments

    Regulations Amending the Clean Fuel Regulations (43 pages, available in English and French)

    The Clean Fuel Regulations (the Regulations) require regulated parties (producers and importers of gasoline or diesel) to reduce the lifecycle carbon intensity of the gasoline or diesel they produce or import for use in Canada. To achieve this, the Regulations establish annual lifecycle carbon…

    Symbol: G/TBT/N/CAN/785Comments until 14 January 2027

All export regulation updates

Get these automatically for your products and markets.

Expodite matches each notification to the markets you export to and the HS codes of your products, and puts the ones that concern you in your Updates centre, with the date comments close.

Start freeSee export intelligence