Excise Stamps, Manifests, and Paperwork: A Licensed Buyer’s Quick Reference

This post is intentionally short and practical. If you are a licensed retailer or your receiving team handles inbound wholesale cannabis shipments, these are the four documents you need to know cold, and what to check on each. Print it, post it in your receiving area, share it with your QA lead.

1. The excise stamp

The excise stamp is the most visible compliance artifact on any cannabis product and the most common source of regulatory friction. Every consumer-ready unit moving through legal channels must have one, in the correct provincial colour and pattern, properly applied.

What to check on receipt:

• The stamp is present on every unit, not just the case
• The colour and pattern match the destination province (Ontario green-orange, BC blue-orange, Quebec yellow-orange, Alberta pink-orange, etc.)
• The stamp is properly affixed, not loose, not damaged, not over-applied
• The stamp matches the product class (flower stamp on flower, extract stamp on extracts)

What to do if something is wrong: Do not bring the unit into your licensed inventory. Reject the affected portion of the shipment at receipt, document the issue with photos, and notify your supplier or broker. A compliant supplier will refuse to ship problem stock; a competent broker will catch it before it leaves the producer.

2. The manifest

The manifest is the document that ties the shipment to the licensed parties on both ends. Every shipment must include one.

What a complete manifest contains:

• Seller (Health Canada licence holder) name and licence number
• Buyer (licensed retailer or distributor) name, licence number, and licensed delivery address
• Product description: strain or product name, SKU, format, pack size
• Quantity: number of units, total weight, lot or batch number
• Shipping particulars: carrier, manifest number, expected delivery window

What to check on receipt:

• Manifest matches the physical shipment item-for-item
• Licence numbers on the manifest match what you have on file for the seller
• The buyer particulars match your retail premises exactly
• Lot or batch numbers on the manifest match the units actually delivered

What to do if there is a mismatch: Stop. Do not sign the proof of delivery for the affected line items. Resolve in writing before product moves into licensed inventory.

3. The Certificate of Analysis (COA)

A COA from an accredited lab must travel with every product. It is the buyer's protection against contaminated, mislabeled, or out-of-spec inventory.

What a complete COA contains:

• Lab name, accreditation number, contact information
• Date of analysis and date of report issuance
• Product lot or batch number matching the shipment
• Cannabinoid panel: at minimum total THC and total CBD, ideally a full panel
• Contaminant panel: pesticides, heavy metals, microbials, mycotoxins
• Lab signatory authentication

What to check on receipt:

• COA matches the lot or batch shipped
• THC and CBD reported on the COA align with what is printed on the unit
• Contaminant results are all within regulated thresholds
• The lab is genuinely accredited and the COA is not an obvious template

What to do if the COA is missing or stale: Reject the affected lot. A COA older than the typical lab shelf life for the panel is not a fresh COA, and the receiving buyer should not accept it as one.

4. Producer licence verification

Before any first-time transaction with a producer, verify their Health Canada licence directly. Brokers do this on behalf of their accounts, but the underlying obligation rests with the buyer.

What to verify:

• The producer name on the manifest matches the producer name on the Health Canada licence
• The licence covers the class of activity (cultivation, processing, sale)
• The licence is current — not expired, not suspended, not on a published enforcement list
• The licensed premises matches the shipping origin

Save a copy. Producer licence verification should be retained in your transaction file. If the regulator later asks how you knew the seller was licensed, "we checked at the time and here is the document" is the only acceptable answer.

Retention

Every one of the four documents above should be archived against the transaction record for the statutory retention period. Treat your transaction file the way you would treat a tax record. A clean digital archive — one folder per transaction, four documents inside — is enough.

If your current sourcing channel is not delivering the four documents above, automatically, in a clean package, on every transaction, that is a problem worth solving. A good broker solves it by default.