Canada · Hazardous Products Regulations SOR/2015-17
WHMIS label maker
Canada is the jurisdiction where language is not a convenience feature. A supplier label must carry every information element in both English and French — either as one bilingual label or as two unilingual halves that together form one label.
Bilingual is a validity condition
HPR s. 6.2 lives in Part 6, not in Part 3 with the rest of the label rules — which is exactly why it gets missed. It states that the information elements on a safety data sheet and on a label must be in both official languages of Canada.
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Opens set to WHMIS. You can change the jurisdiction inside the tool at any point — the label is rebuilt against the rules of whichever one is selected.
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The label below is empty and ready. Pick a substance to fill the classification in, or type your own product name straight into the tool.
Where the product is sold or used
HPR s. 6.2: label elements must appear in BOTH official languages of Canada. Either a single bilingual label, or two unilingual parts that together constitute one bilingual label.
Market with more than one official language
Primary label language
Why is Irish not in this list?
Irish cannot be the primary language here. The H and P statement texts exist in Irish — they are printed inside the multilingual tables of CLP Annexes III and IV — but the signal word does not: signal words live in the Annex I tables, and no consolidated CLP text has ever been published in Irish. A signal word is a mandatory label element under Art. 17(1)(d), so an Irish-primary label would be missing one. Irish is still available as the second language. For Ireland, English-primary + Irish-second is what this tool can produce lawfully.
Second languagerequired
Container & label size
Container capacity
WHMIS sets no minimum label or pictogram size — only a legibility requirement. For ≤ 3 L (bottles, cans, aerosols) we suggest at least 52 × 74 mm — our recommendation, not a legal minimum.
Label size
Everything fits · pictograms 36.9 mm · text 4.62 mm
Product information
Supplier details
initial supplier identifier · saved locallyYour logo is placed as supplemental information beside the supplier block. It must not obscure the mandatory elements (CLP Art. 25 / OSHA HCS App C.3.1).
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Reference layout only. A Canadian supplier label must carry both English and French (HPR s. 6.2).
Live preview · WHMIS
Print size: 4 × 2 in
The preview is scaled to your screen — the real print size is shown above.
Up to 274% still fits 4 × 2 in.
Compliance check · WHMIS
- Missing: product identifier
- No pictograms — correct only if the substance is not classified for that hazard
- No signal word — correct only if the substance is not classified for that hazard
- Missing: hazard statements
- Missing: precautionary statements
- Missing: supplier name, address and phone
- Both languages are required: EN + FR. A unilingual supplier label is not valid.· HPR s. 6.2
HPR s. 3.3 — pictogram, signal word and hazard statement are grouped together
01 · What the label must carry
The supplier label under s. 3(1)
- Product identifier
- Initial supplier identifier
- Pictogram, signal word, hazard statement and precautionary statement determined under the GHS Annex 3 allocation
- Any element required by Schedule 5 for the classes concerned
- Where applicable, the statement about the proportion of ingredients of unknown acute toxicity
HPR s. 3(1)
Initial supplier identifier is not the same as “supplier”
It means the Canadian manufacturer or importer that first placed the product on the Canadian market — the party a downstream user can trace the classification back to. A distributor’s own name does not replace it.
02 · Language
Both official languages, on one label or two halves of one label
Section 6.2 permits either “a single bilingual label” or “a group of information elements in two unilingual parts that constitute one bilingual label”. Both are lawful; the second is what you see on drums where the English block occupies the left half and the French block the right.
This tool prints the second language beside the first, with both sets of hazard and precautionary statements in their official wording. The French texts come from the CLP annexes, which is where the authoritative French phrasing of the GHS statements is published.
HPR s. 6.2
03 · Size
No minimum size — and the regulation says so explicitly
Section 3.1 requires the pictogram to be an exact reproduction of the prescribed symbol “except with respect to size”. There is no table, no floor and no target. What the regulation does require is legibility (s. 3.4) and durability (s. 3.5) — the label must stay readable and stay attached under the conditions the product is used in.
As in the OSHA branch, this tool will not report a Canadian label as undersized, because there is nothing to be undersized against. The EU tier table is offered as guidance, marked as guidance.
HPR s. 3.1, s. 3.4, s. 3.5
The hatched border is history
The diagonal hatched frame belonged to WHMIS 1988. The current regulation prescribes a black symbol on a white background inside a red diamond — with one exception: Biohazardous Infectious Materials uses a black symbol inside a black circle. Whether a voluntary hatched border is permitted is not addressed either way in the HPR.
04 · Small containers and workplace labels
Relief below 100 ml, and what changes at 3 ml
100 ml or less
Hazard statements and precautionary statements may be omitted. Pictogram, signal word, both identifiers and — this is the part that catches people — bilingualism all remain.
HPR s. 5.4(1)
3 ml or less
The requirement that the label be permanently attached is lifted: a removable or fold-back label is acceptable.
HPR s. 5.4(2)
Workplace labels are not HPR at all
They fall under occupational health and safety law, federally the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations s. 10.41: product identifier, hazard information, and a statement that a safety data sheet is available in the workplace. Pictograms and verbatim H and P statements are not required. Note that the bilingual requirement of HPR s. 6.2 addresses supplier labels and safety data sheets — the COHSR workplace-label provision does not itself impose one.
COHSR s. 10.41
Language on this label
EN + FR — both mandatory
HPR s. 6.2: label elements must appear in BOTH official languages of Canada. Either a single bilingual label, or two unilingual parts that together constitute one bilingual label.
The official wording of hazard statements is fixed in CLP Annex III and of precautionary statements in Annex IV, in all 24 EU languages; the United States uses the texts of 29 CFR 1910.1200 Appendix C, which are not identical. Statement texts are never paraphrased.
Questions
Frequently asked
Does a WHMIS label have to be bilingual?
A supplier label, yes. HPR s. 6.2 requires the information elements on both the label and the safety data sheet to appear in both official languages of Canada. It may be one bilingual label, or two unilingual parts that together constitute one bilingual label. A unilingual English supplier label is not compliant.
What is the minimum WHMIS label size?
There is none. Section 3.1 expressly excludes size from the requirement that the pictogram be an exact reproduction of the prescribed symbol. The operative requirements are legibility (s. 3.4) and durability (s. 3.5).
Is the hatched WHMIS border still required?
No. The diagonal hatched frame was a WHMIS 1988 feature. Current WHMIS prescribes a black symbol on a white background within a red diamond, with Biohazardous Infectious Materials as the exception (black symbol, black circle). The HPR neither requires nor forbids a voluntary hatched border.
Which GHS revision does WHMIS follow?
GHS Revision 7 as the base (s. 1), with specific Revision 8 elements for the Chemicals Under Pressure class added by SOR/2022-272. That amendment’s transition period ran to roughly 15 December 2025, so the current regime applies in full.
Do workplace labels need to be bilingual in Canada?
The HPR bilingual requirement in s. 6.2 addresses supplier labels and safety data sheets. Workplace labels are governed by occupational health and safety legislation instead — federally COHSR s. 10.41, which does not itself impose a bilingual requirement. Provincial rules and, in Quebec, language legislation may apply, so check the jurisdiction the site sits in.
Can I use the same label in Canada and the United States?
Often yes, if it carries both languages and satisfies both supplier-identification rules — a US address and telephone number for HazCom, and a Canadian initial supplier identifier for the HPR. Watch the statement texts: the two systems do not use an identical set of hazard statements.
Elsewhere in this section
Other label rules
Before you label
Sources
Reference layout only. A Canadian supplier label must carry both English and French (HPR s. 6.2).