Canada and marketplace accountability

In September 2023, Health Canada launched the Canadian Product Safety Pledge as part of its efforts to strengthen the safety of consumer products and cosmetics sold online. In April 2026, AliExpress joined Amazon Canada, eBay Canada, and Temu Canada as signatories to the initiative.

What is the Pledge?

The Canadian Product Safety Pledge is a voluntary commitment between Health Canada and major online marketplaces aimed at improving the safety of products sold online. It combines preventive and corrective measures with annual reporting obligations to assess the effectiveness of participating platforms’ safety initiatives.

The initiative reflects the growing importance of e-commerce and follows similar product safety pledges adopted in jurisdictions such as the European Union, Australia, and the Republic of Korea.

The pledge is built around 14 commitments grouped into four key areas:

Detecting and preventing the sale of unsafe products
Cooperating with Health Canada
Raising product safety awareness among sellers
Empowering consumers on product safety issues.

Participating platforms are expected to implement systems and processes that help identify, remove, and prevent the sale of recalled, prohibited, or otherwise non-compliant products while facilitating cooperation with regulators and informing consumers of potential risks.

Importantly, participation in the pledge does not automatically demonstrate compliance with Canadian legislation. Signatories remain responsible for complying with all applicable legal requirements, and Health Canada retains its full enforcement powers where safety concerns arise.

Key commitments for online marketplaces

The pledge requires signatories to adopt a range of measures, including:

Monitoring Health Canada communications regarding recalled, prohibited, or non-compliant products
Implementing preventive measures to stop such products from being listed for sale
Conducting audits and compliance checks within their marketplaces
Removing identified unsafe products quickly
Sanctioning sellers that repeatedly offer unsafe or non-compliant products
Cooperating with Health Canada investigations and requests for information;
Supporting seller compliance with Canadian product safety laws
Providing mechanisms for consumers to report safety concerns and receive recall notifications.

Many commitments include specific response timelines. For example, signatories are expected to remove recalled or prohibited products within two business days of being notified by Health Canada and provide seller information within five business days when requested.

A broader international trend: the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA)

Canada’s pledge reflects a broader global attention towards the accountability of online marketplaces.

In the European Union, the Digital Services Act (DSA) imposes obligations on large online platforms to identify and mitigate risks arising from their services, including the sale of illegal or non-compliant products. Platforms are expected to assess how their design, business practices, and recommendation systems may contribute to the distribution of unsafe goods and to implement appropriate mitigation measures.

Regulators are increasingly focusing not only on the safety of products themselves but also on the responsibility of online marketplaces to prevent unsafe products from reaching consumers.

An example is the 200 million euros fine issued by the European Commission to TEMU for breaching the DSA.

Businesses selling through e-commerce channels should therefore expect greater scrutiny and ensure they have a system to recognize non-compliant products and to properly recall unsafe products sold through their platforms.

Need support?

If you have questions about Canadian cosmetics compliance, contact us or write an email to COSlaw@obelis.net.