“Can I see your ID?”: Québec limits energy drinks to 16+

On June 11, 2026, Québec’s National Assembly passed Bill 9, An Act to prevent the harmful effects of energy drinks on the health of young people (collectively, the Bill and the Act), making Québec the first jurisdiction in North America to restrict access to energy drinks by age. The legislation, which received Royal Assent the same day, prohibits the sale of energy drinks to anyone under 16 and will come into force six months after assent.

The bill was introduced on June 5, 2026, and moved through the legislative process on an expedited basis, passing through introduction, committee consultations, clause-by-clause study, report stage, and final adoption within six sitting days. It received near-unanimous support at every stage. The legislation has been informally dubbed the “Zachary Miron Act,” after a 15-year-old who died in 2024 after consuming a can of Red Bull in combination with ADHD medication.

Overview of key provisions

Definition of energy drinks

The Act defines an energy drink as a beverage with a caffeine concentration of 150 milligrams per litre or more that contains other ingredients such as taurine, vitamins, or minerals. As of this date, no draft regulations have been published.

Coffee, tea, and natural health products regulated under the federal Food and Drugs Act are excluded from the definition, though the government retains regulatory authority to specify additional products or classes of products that are or are not considered energy drinks.

Age-based restrictions

The legislation prohibits the sale of energy drinks to persons under 16. It also prohibits the sale of energy drinks to a person 16 or older where the vendor knows the purchase is being made on behalf of a minor. Persons under 16 are themselves prohibited from purchasing energy drinks for themselves or others and from misrepresenting their age to do so. Vendors and their employees may require purchasers to produce government-issued photo identification showing name and date of birth, and must refuse the sale if the identification produced cannot prove the purchaser’s identity. The provision of energy drinks at no cost is also treated as a sale under the Act, meaning that the age-based restrictions and verification requirements apply to free distribution.

Online and vending machine sales

The Act prohibits the sale of energy drinks other than in the physical presence of the vendor or an employee of the vendor and the purchaser, except in circumstances provided for, and in compliance with Government regulation. This could effectively ban online sales and vending machine sales of energy drinks to all consumers. That said, the provisions governing online and vending machine sales will not come into force until the first regulation under this section is made, and no draft regulations have been published as of this date, meaning there is currently no fixed date for this aspect of the legislation.

Inspection and enforcement

Compliance inspections lie with Santé Québec. Inspectors may conduct compliance tests, including the use of underage persons acting as test purchasers. Inspectors may also require persons present at or leaving premises where energy drinks are sold to produce proof of age, provided the inspector has a reasonable belief that the person purchased an energy drink.

Penalties

The fine structure is tiered:

Offender	Fine
Person under 16 who purchases for self or another, sells, or misrepresents age	$100
Adult (non-merchant) who sells to a minor or sells online/via vending machine	$500 – $1,500
Merchant (natural person)	$2,500 – $25,000
Merchant (corporation)	$5,000 – $62,500

All minimum and maximum fines are doubled for subsequent offences. A due diligence defence is available: no penalty may be imposed on a defendant who demonstrates that a reasonable effort was made to verify the purchaser’s age and that there were reasonable grounds to believe the person was 16 or over. Obstruction of inspectors or investigators is subject to the same fine ranges applicable to merchants.

Mandatory review

The Minister of Health must publish a follow-up report within two years of coming into force and assess the appropriateness of maintaining or modifying the Act’s provisions within three years.

Parliamentary debate

Health Minister Bélanger described the bill as the product of a transpartisan effort, noting that it built on the work of the Québec Advisory Committee on Energy Drinks. She emphasized that energy drinks are easily accessible, frequently confused with conventional sugary beverages, and marketed aggressively to young people. She also announced the creation of a working group, comprising representatives from industry, the retail sector, and public health, to accompany the Act’s implementation and to be consulted before any regulatory amendments.

Industry response

The Canadian Beverage Association argues the process of enacting the Act “precluded meaningful factual, scientific, and medical analysis,” introduces a definition of energy drinks inconsistent with Health Canada’s federal regulatory framework, creates confusion for consumers and enforcement authorities, and imposes restrictions that are “disproportionate and disconnected from the demonstrated level of risk.”

The Canadian Beverage Association further pointed out that experts from the INSPQ, the Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec, and the Association des cardiologues du Québec testified that energy drink consumption among Québec adolescents is low and that the scientific evidence does not demonstrate a causal link between energy drinks and health harm, including in the context of use with medication.

It should be noted that energy drinks are already subject to regulation by Health Canada. The Canadian Federal Regulations Amending the Food and Drug Regulations and the Cannabis Regulations (Supplemented Foods) (the Supplemented Foods Regulations) apply to supplemented foods in Québec, including energy drinks. The Supplemented Foods Regulations restrict the amount of caffeine in energy drinks from all sources to a total of 180 mg per serving and contain mandatory labelling and prescribed cautionary statement requirements. Notably, caffeinated energy shots are regulated by the Natural Health Products Regulations and are already age-restricted in Canada.

Key takeaways and practical implications

Québec is the first province to impose age-based restrictions on the sale of energy drinks. For businesses, the key practical implications are:

• The sale restrictions take effect in six months: Retailers, restaurants, convenience stores, and any business selling energy drinks in Québec must implement age verification procedures and train staff before the coming-into-force date.
• Online and vending machine sales are contemplated: The prohibition on non-in-person sales applies to all purchasers and will come into force upon the making of the first government regulation under that section. Businesses operating in e-commerce or using vending machines to sell energy drinks should monitor the regulatory process closely.
• The definition of “energy drink” may expand: The government retains broad regulatory authority to designate additional products, or classes of products, as energy drinks. The government may also specifically exclude certain products from this definition. Businesses in adjacent product categories should be alert to future regulatory developments.
• Federal-provincial tensions may emerge: Industry groups have argued that the Act’s definition diverges from Health Canada’s existing regulatory framework for energy drinks, which could create compliance complexity for national manufacturers and distributors operating across jurisdictions.
• A mandatory legislative review is built in: The Minister must publish a follow-up report within two years and assess the Act’s provisions within three years. Stakeholders may contribute to the review by preparing evidence on the legislation’s practical effects, enforcement challenges, and any unintended consequences.

For further information, please contact any of the authors.