Cannabis Microbusiness Compliance

What a Type 12 microbusiness license actually requires

The Type 12 microbusiness is a single DCC license authorizing three of the four eligible commercial cannabis activities: cultivation on an area of no more than 10,000 square feet, non-volatile manufacturing (Type 6 level), distribution, and retail. You choose which three you will run, and every activity you select must be conducted at the same licensed premises and named in your application. The common misread is that one license means one set of rules. It does not. A microbusiness has to meet the substantive requirements of each activity it holds, the same standards a standalone cultivator, manufacturer, distributor, or retailer would face. Local authorization comes first, then the state license, and the premises diagram has to show how each activity is separated and controlled within the single site.

• Three of four activities: cultivation (up to 10,000 sq ft), non-volatile manufacturing, distribution, and retail
• All chosen activities at one licensed premises, each shown on the premises diagram
• Local approval in your jurisdiction before or alongside the DCC application
• Each activity held to the same DCC standards as its standalone license type

Structuring your three chosen activities

Which three activities you combine shapes everything that follows: your floor plan, your staffing, your recordkeeping, and where your compliance risk concentrates. A cultivation-manufacturing-distribution build behaves very differently from a cultivation-retail-distribution build, and the DCC expects the premises to reflect real, physical separation between functions. We help you map the activities to the space before it is built or leased, so that limited-access areas, retail sales floors, storage, and any manufacturing area are defined cleanly and match what goes on the premises diagram. Getting this right early avoids the expensive rework of a premises modification later, and it makes every downstream control easier to document.

Cross-activity track-and-trace and separation

This is where microbusinesses get caught. Under one license, product moves between your own activities, harvested flower into manufacturing, finished goods into distribution, packaged product onto your retail shelf, and every one of those internal handoffs still has to be recorded in METRC track-and-trace. Inventory does not get a pass just because it never leaves the building. The reconciliation burden is real: your physical inventory has to match METRC across all activities at once, and a discrepancy in one function can surface as a violation for the whole license. We build the track-and-trace workflow so internal transfers, tags, and category conversions are logged correctly at each step, and so cash-handling, sales limits, and limited-access controls stay properly separated by function.

• Record internal transfers between your own activities in METRC, not just outbound sales
• Keep physical inventory reconciled to METRC across every activity
• Maintain limited-access areas and role separation between functions on one site
• Track category and unit-of-measure conversions from cultivation through retail

A combined SOP set and layered audit readiness

A microbusiness cannot just staple four template SOP binders together. You need one coherent SOP set that covers each activity you hold and, critically, the seams between them: how product hands off internally, who has access to what, and how records tie together across functions. Overlapping or contradictory procedures are exactly what an inspector notices. Because a Type 12 is inspected against every activity it holds, audit readiness is layered rather than single-track. We prepare microbusiness-specific SOPs mapped to current DCC requirements and run mock inspections against each function and the whole premises, so you know where the gaps are before the DCC does. If you receive a notice to comply, we build the corrective-action plan and fix the underlying METRC, SOP, or recordkeeping issue, working alongside your cannabis attorney. Book a compliance consult and we will walk through your three-activity structure and where your license is most exposed.

• One combined SOP set spanning every chosen activity and the handoffs between them
• SOPs mapped to current DCC regulations, not generic single-type templates
• Mock inspections run per activity and across the full premises
• Corrective-action and remediation support alongside your cannabis attorney