On January 1, 2025, changes to Ontario Regulation 468/18 under the Cannabis Licence Act, 2018 came into effect to allow a Retail Store Authorization (RSA) holder who has requested the cancellation of their RSA to sell cannabis to one other authorization holder.
This change provides cannabis retailers with increased flexibility in dealing with remaining cannabis when closing a retail location.
RSA holders may sell all, or a portion, of the cannabis in the store.
Two additional regulatory changes came into effect on January 1, 2025 for cannabis licence and authorization holders.
For information on the amendment allowing the transfer of a RSA from one retail operator to another, see Information Bulletin: Transfers of Retail Store Authorizations for Cannabis Retail Store Operators now permitted.
For information on the amendment requiring retail operators to attest to their tax compliance, see Information Bulletin: New tax compliance attestation requirements for cannabis retail operator licences now in effect.
How it works
An RSA holder who has requested a cancellation of an RSA may sell cannabis to one other authorization holder.
The conditions that must be met for the sale to occur include:
- The cannabis that is to be sold must be in the inventory of the cannabis retail store for which the request to cancel the RSA has been made.
- Cannabis may only be sold to one other RSA holder. Sale to multiple RSA holders is not permitted.
- No proposals to revoke or suspend the RSA or ROL of the seller and the purchaser has been issued.
- Neither RSAs may be under suspension.
- The RSA holder selling the cannabis must provide written notice of the sale to the AGCO as part of their request to cancel their existing authorization.
Request Process
The RSA holder selling the cannabis must:
- notify the AGCO, through the AGCO Notification Matrix, that they are cancelling their RSA.
- submit a Request to Cancel an Authorization Amendment on the iAGCO online portal.
Both the RSA holder selling and purchasing the cannabis will receive written correspondence from the AGCO advising as to whether either of the authorizations are under suspension or whether a proposal to revoke or suspend either RSA or ROL has been issued.
Recordkeeping and Reporting
Both RSA holders must accurately document the sale and purchase of cannabis in their respective point-of-sale systems.
Prior to the cancellation of the RSA, the holder must ensure that any cannabis left unsold or undistributed is sold, transferred or destroyed. This means that there must not be any cannabis in the store and the inventory levels must be reported as zero or null in the point-of-sale system.
For More Information
Please familiarize yourself with the changes to Ontario Regulation 468/18 made under the Cannabis Licence Act, 2018 that came into effect on January 1, 2025. The Registrar’s Standards for Cannabis Retail Stores have also been amended to reflect these new regulatory changes and are in effect as of January 1, 2025.
An updated version of the Cannabis Retail Regulation Guide (see new Cannabis Sales section) is available to help you navigate these changes.
AGCO Customer Service is available to assist you. For inquiries, email customer.service@agco.ca or call 1-800-522-2876, Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. or call 1-800-522-2876, Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.