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3 <br />Important Note on Ownership Changes, Endorsement Changes and Trade Name Registration <br />Changes: <br />Minnesota law only allows for licenses to be transferred. However, the prohibition on pre-licensure <br />transfer does not mean that an applicant cannot make changes to their ownership structure. There <br />are different requirements for changing ownership of a business, depending on if the changes are <br />being made prior to obtaining a cannabis business license, or if they are being made after a license <br />has been issued. <br />By statute, applicants cannot transfer ownership of their application before receiving a license. This <br />means that a preliminarily approved applicant cannot sell the majority ownership interest to a third <br />party. <br />However, qualified and preliminarily approved applicants can make changes to their ownership <br />structure pre-licensure, so long as they do not do any of the following: <br />· Make any transfer of an ownership interest that changes the individual that holds a majority <br />ownership interest of the cannabis business. <br />· Make any change of ownership or control that requires a new business registration with the <br />Minnesota Secretary of State. <br />· Make any transfer of ownership that causes a social equity classified application to no longer <br />qualify as a social equity application. <br />· Add any owners that are ineligible to hold a cannabis license based on criminal or civil <br />offense history. <br />· Create any ownership structure that is in violation of the true party of interest provisions <br />contained in Minnesota Statutes, section 342.185. <br />Note that it is the applicant’s responsibility to maintain compliance with ownership structure <br />requirements in Minnesota Statutes, sections 342.14, 342.15, 342.16, 342.17, and 342.185 and <br />failure to do so will result in your application not proceeding. <br />While an applicant can make changes to their ownership group prior to licensure, OCM will only <br />review changes to your ownership once the site registration is submitted in your application. Site <br />registration is the step you take when your business is ready to operate. This step is when your <br />business demonstrates compliance with all applicable rules and regulations, and you alert OCM of <br />the local jurisdiction in which you intend to operate. <br />When an applicant starts the site registration process, they will need to upload the change of <br />ownership documents into Accela along with their final plans of record. The link to the change of <br />ownership documents is located at: https://mn.gov/ocm/businesses/licensing/final-plan-of- <br />record.jsp under the section Change of Ownership and Control. OCM will not review any changes <br />to the ownership group until an applicant is ready to become operational and has submitted their final <br />plans of record and site registration. Additional information on change of business ownership and <br />control can be found on the OCM website. <br />An applicant can change endorsements at the time of site registration. Once an inspection has taken <br />place, OCM will verify which endorsements have passed inspection. Endorsements may change after <br />licensure but will require a new site registration, final plans of record and inspection.