Criteria for Hyperlinking to and from Health Canada's Web Sites

Health Canada's Web sites are aimed at delivering information and services to users that are relevant and applicable to its mandate and that of the Government of Canada (GoC). To this end, the following criteria will be used by Health Canada to determine the suitability of links to and from its Web sites.

This criteria applies to all of Health Canada's Web sites.

General parameters governing linking

• Health Canada reserves the right to refuse to post a link, to refuse to renew a link, or to terminate an existing link without prior notice due to non-compliance with the criteria mentioned below or for any other appropriate reason which may include, but is not restricted to site navigation or content problems or frequent client complaints.
• Health Canada does not sell advertising or the benefits associated with links or banners
• Links may not work as we do not control the availability of externally linked pages.
• Health Canada does not display third party logos, images or icons on its Web site unless a Collaborative Arrangement exists.

Links from Health Canada's Web sites

If you would like to request that Health Canada provide a link to your site from our Web sites, please review the criteria that follows before submitting your request. In general, Health Canada does not link to Web sites of organizations that are not affiliates of Health Canada, are not partnering or have not partnered with Health Canada, or do not feature relevant, accurate information of which Health Canada has an interest in. Decisions to post links on this site will also be subject to this criteria:

• the content of the site reflects the aims and objectives of Health Canada and are consistent with its mandate. In some cases, Health Canada may consider linking to organizations who are related to the overall GoC mandate, as opposed to the individual mandate of Health Canada .
• the creation of a link does not provide unfair competitive advantage through on-line endorsements of third party interests. Links are provided for convenience purposes only and are not an endorsement or rating of the content of the sites to which they are made. Please note that links created within the context of a Collaborative Arrangement are not considered an endorsement or providing an unfair competitive advantage.
• the site is not considered inappropriate due to its content or its affiliations.
• the content of the site complies with the laws of Canada, which includes such items as copyright, privacy, etc.
• the content of the site is kept current and accurate.
• the site must allow users to navigate back to the present site; they cannot block the user's return to this site by using embedded code or other techniques within the linked page that prevent the use of the browser "back" button.
• the site provides contact information that includes, as a minimum, two of the following:
• e-mail
• postal mail
• phone number
• TTY/TTD

In addition, please note that:

• preference may be given to sites that make their information available in both official languages.
• preference may be given to sites that meet the accessibility requirements outlined in Common Look and Feel Standards 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4.
• preference may be given to sites that provide uninterrupted, free access to users.

Links to Health Canada's Web sites

Generally, GoC institutions encourage third parties to link to the GoC. Sites wishing to link to Health Canada's Web site, therefore, do not need to request permission to do so. We do, however, ask that you follow these linking practices.

• Use only text links for linking to Health Canada's Web sites.
• Do not link and/or use the official symbols of the GoC and Federal Identity Program (FIP) signatures as navigational aids.
• The official symbols of the GoC and the FIP signatures appear on non-government sites only when they are used to identify a government contribution or participation in a Collaborative Arrangement.
• The creation of a link does not confuse the user as to the source of the information through such practices as framing.
• The links provided respect the Copyright Notice that governs materials published on the Health Canada's Web sites.