Restricted categories limit what you can say as much as who you can sell to, and promotional rules are frequently stricter than the sales rules. The website is usually the first thing a regulator looks at.

Two obligations, and the second is bigger

Businesses in these categories think about who they can sell to. The heavier constraint is usually what they are allowed to say.

Restricted categories commonly limit promotion itself: the claims that may be made, the imagery permitted, whether lifestyle association is allowed, and whether price promotion is possible at all.

A website is a promotional surface, and it is the most easily reviewed one a regulator has.

Alcohol

Advertising is regulated provincially through liquor authorities, and the rules are more restrictive than general advertising standards.

Common restrictions across provinces: no association with social or sexual success, no depiction of consumption in some contexts, no appeal to people under legal drinking age, no claims about health benefits, and limits on price-based promotion.

Online sale and delivery are separately regulated, differ by province, and interprovincial shipment carries its own restrictions.

Which means the practical positions are: describe the product rather than the experience, avoid anything implying an outcome from drinking it, and confirm your own province's advertising and delivery requirements rather than following what a producer elsewhere does.

Cannabis

The most restrictive category.

Federal legislation limits promotion sharply, including restrictions on promotion that could appeal to young persons, testimonials and endorsements, depictions of people or characters, and lifestyle association.

Informational and brand-preference promotion is permitted in defined circumstances, commonly requiring an age-gated audience.

Packaging, labelling and where sales may occur are regulated separately, and provincial rules add another layer determining who may sell at all.

For a website this means an age gate is a starting point rather than compliance, and anything resembling lifestyle imagery is likely a problem. This is a category where advice is warranted rather than optional.

Vaping products

Federal legislation restricts promotion, including restrictions on promotion appealing to young persons, lifestyle promotion, and certain flavour representations.

Health-related claims are constrained, and the position on presenting these products as a cessation aid is narrower than retailers frequently assume.

Provincial rules add display and retail restrictions on top.

Supplements and health products

A category small businesses enter without realising it is regulated.

Natural health products require a licence and a product number, and claims are limited to what the authorisation supports.

Which means the claim on your website has to match what was approved, and disease treatment or prevention claims are the common overreach.

Testimonials describing results are a particular risk here, since a customer saying a product cured something is a claim you have published.

The general advertising requirement that performance claims be supported by adequate and proper testing applies on top of the sector rules.

Age verification, honestly

A self-declared date of birth is not verification. It is a notice.

Whether that is sufficient depends on the category and the jurisdiction, and for the more restricted categories it generally is not, particularly at delivery.

What stronger arrangements look like: verification at the point of delivery with identification checked, third-party verification services, and a record that the check occurred.

The delivery point is where the obligation frequently bites, because that is where the product physically reaches somebody, and a courier who leaves a package at the door has not verified anything.

What this means for the site

  1. Describe rather than promote, in the restricted categories.
  2. No lifestyle or outcome imagery where prohibited.
  3. No health claims beyond what is authorised.
  4. Care with testimonials, which are claims you have published.
  5. Age gating appropriate to the category, and real verification at delivery where required.
  6. Ship only where you are permitted to, enforced at checkout.

Where to get the answer

The pattern in this post is deliberate: it names the direction and points at the authority rather than restating rules.

These regimes change, differ by province, and carry real consequences including licence conditions. The applicable regulator, whether a liquor authority, the federal health department, or a provincial body, is the reference, and a lawyer with sector experience is worth the cost before launching rather than after.

The general advertising rules apply underneath all of it, which is set out in claims you can and cannot make.

Frequently asked questions

What is the bigger constraint in these categories?

What you may say rather than who you may sell to. Promotional rules commonly limit claims, imagery, lifestyle association, and price promotion.

What restricts alcohol advertising?

Provincial liquor authorities, more restrictively than general advertising standards, commonly barring association with social success, health claims, and appeal to underage audiences.

How restricted is cannabis promotion?

Sharply. Federal legislation restricts promotion appealing to young persons, testimonials, depictions of people, and lifestyle association, with provincial rules on top.

What is the risk with supplements?

Claims must match what the product authorisation supports. Disease treatment claims are the common overreach, and testimonials describing results are claims you published.

Is a date of birth box age verification?

No, it is a notice. For more restricted categories it is generally insufficient, particularly at delivery where identification needs checking.

Where should I get the specifics?

The applicable regulator, since these regimes differ by province and change. A lawyer with sector experience is worth the cost before launching.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Selling something regulated with a tick box at the door?

We look at what the site actually says, which is the part regulators review first.

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