Health Canada now mandates safety compliance for portable electric heaters under the General Prohibitions process. Find out what this means for manufacturers and retailers.
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| Canada updates its regulations for portable electric heaters, requiring compliance with key safety standards before they can be sold. Image: Alan Wang |
SGS, the world’s leading testing, inspection, and certification company, has published SafeGuardS 178.24, summarizing recent changes to Canada’s requirements for portable electric heaters.
Health Canada announced on November 28, 2024, that portable electric heaters must meet key safety performance criteria before they can be manufactured, imported, advertised, or sold in the country. These products have now been added to Table 3 of the General Prohibitions process, meaning that only heaters failing to meet critical safety standards are restricted.
This is not a blanket ban on all portable electric heaters. Compliance can be demonstrated through assessment against specific standards, such as the CSA C22.2 NO. 46-13 (R2022) standard for electric air-heaters and CAN/CSA E60335-2-30:13 (R2022) standard for room heaters.
SGS advises stakeholders to review the full SafeGuardS 178.24 publication for more details on these regulatory changes. As an accredited certification body by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) and a recognized Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) by OSHA in the United States, SGS is well-positioned to support businesses involved in manufacturing, importing, and retailing portable electric heaters in Canada.