SmartLabel Canada Implementation Forecast Survey

Posted Date: 26-May-2021

Posted By:  Susan Nieuwhof

CA asks all of our Brand Members to please complete the SmartLabel™ Canada Implementation Forecast Survey. The purpose of this survey is to forecast SmartLabel™ implementation for consumer product brands in Canada through December 2023. This includes cosmetics and personal care products!

Click HERE to complete the online survey. For your convenience, a hard copy of the survey that can be used to collect your responses prior to submitting online is available here. Please SUBMIT YOUR SURVEY BY June 15, 2021 so that the results can be shared with by the FHCP Board and Allied Trade Associations at the end of June.

This is the 4th implementation forecast that SmartLabel™ Canada has conducted and this one carries particular importance. It is the survey that will inform key stakeholders about the status of industry’s commitment to transparency. The plan is to update this implementation forecast every 6-months.

We ask every brand owner who is a recipient of this request to please submit a survey. SmartLabel™ Canada hopes for material accuracy in the up-close segments while the further out segments will help to access and communicate industry’s commitment to the initiative.

More Information about SmartLabel™ and the Implementation Forecast Survey:
The objective has remained the same since this initiative was formally launched in early 2019. That is to see each company’s full portfolio supported by SmartLabel™ Canada Landing Pages.
In the US, there are already over 1000 Brands providing SmartLabel® information on over 87,000 items to consumers. In the US, SmartLabel® Landing Page information is now available on over 81% of all units sold across product categories where at least one SKU was registered with SmartLabel. Key US policy makers have noticed and are putting disclosure regulations in place that recognize digital disclosure as a more elegant solution than on-pack labelling.
Health Canada has also been clear in their message to industry: “We recognize that digital disclosure is often a more elegant solution than on-pack labeling because more context and information can be provided, helping consumers make more fully informed choices. Health Canada would like to leverage more of this capability, but it will require that industry step-up and voluntarily build a critical mass of disclosure tools, like SmartLabel, and commit to clear, accurate and truthful digital disclosure.”
We are just beginning this journey here in Canada and this forecast survey is an important tool.
A hard copy of the survey is attached to help your team with its data collection. PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR SURVEY BY June 15, 2021 so that the results can be shared with by the FHCP Board and Allied Trade Associations by the end of June.
  1. All individual responses will be held confidentially. You will be asked for your e-mail contact information so the SmartLabel® Brand Office can follow-up with any response questions.
  2. Your forecast will be used in aggregate to track industry commitment to SmartLabel® implementation. If you respond “yes” to question #5, you are agreeing to enable the SmartLabel Canada Team to use your company name as a confirmed SmartLabel® participant.
  3. If you need a copy of your response to any of the previous surveys, please send a request to Jim Flannery at jmflannery33@gmail.com.

Why continued updates are required: There are two primary reasons our Board has asked us to regularly update plans, in addition to reporting actual SmartLabel® Landing Pages Trademark licensing agreements “live” in the market, listed on www.smartlabelcanada.org and available to consumers.

  1. The SmartLabel™ Canada Trademark licensing fees will generate the funds to help build consumer awareness. The SmartLabel® Implementation Team will use this forecast to plan when and how to market SmartLabel® to consumers from an industry perspective. We continue to encourage participating brands to market to your consumers as soon as you are in-market.
  2. We believe tracking participation in SmartLabel® will help us demonstrate industry self-regulation across a number of consumer and regulatory transparency issues.

How 6-month updates will work: Each May and November, the SmartLabel® Office will send an implementation survey to the Single[1]Point-of-Contact for each company. You will be asked to update your implementation forecast for the time period in the survey. We suggest that the SPOC save a copy of your submitted forecast each time, but if the SPOC changes or cannot find the last submission, the SmartLabel™ Canada Brand office will provide your last submission. For the purpose of this survey, SmartLabel® Participation is defined as the number of SKUs you will support with a SmartLabel® Landing Page. Participating Brands can be either National, Regional, Local or Retailer Private Label Brands. Please answer only for your brands

We will attempt to forecast CUMULATIVE NUMBER OF SKU’s WITH LIVE LANDING PAGES through Dec. 2023.

Click HERE to complete the online survey. For your convenience, a hard copy of the survey that can be used to collect your responses prior to submitting online is available here. PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR SURVEY BY June 15, 2021.