CanadaIf a product injures me, does the manufacturer have to report the incident?
Yes, in Canada, manufacturers must report certain injuries caused by consumer products to Health Canada within 2 business days.
What the Law Says
The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act imposes a legal duty on manufacturers, importers, and sellers to report incidents involving consumer products that have caused or could cause injury.
If a consumer product you made, imported, or sold has caused or may reasonably cause serious injury—or death—you must report it to Health Canada. This includes incidents where the product malfunctioned, was defective, or lacked adequate warnings.
The law applies even if the injury occurred outside Canada, as long as the product was manufactured, imported, or sold in Canada. Reporting is mandatory—not optional—and applies regardless of whether you believe you’re at fault.
Failure to report can result in penalties, including fines up to $5 million and/or imprisonment for up to 2 years for individuals.
Statutory TextManufacturers, importers and sellers must report incidents involving consumer products.
— Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, s. 21 — Mandatory incident reporting
What to Do
Determine if the incident meets the reporting threshold: serious injury, death, or a reasonable risk of either.
Gather key details: product name/model, date/time/location of incident, nature of injury, and any known defect or hazard.
Submit a written report to Health Canada’s Incident Reporting Program within 2 business days.
Keep records of the report and all supporting information for at least 6 years.
Cooperate with follow-up requests from Health Canada, including providing additional data or corrective action plans.
Sources
Not legal advice. This article is general information based on publicly available sources, written for educational purposes. Laws change and individual situations vary. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction before acting on anything you read here. Last reviewed: 2026-06-08.