Explosives Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. E-17)

Prohibited Activities

Marginal note:Manufacture, use, etc.

6 Except as authorized under this Act and subject to such exemptions as may be provided by regulation, no person shall

• (a) make or manufacture any explosive, either wholly or in part, except in a licensed factory;

• (b) sell any authorized explosive unless that person is the operator of a licensed factory or licensed magazine and is authorized to sell explosives;

• (c) store any explosive in a magazine that is not a licensed magazine;

• (d) have in his possession any explosive; or

• (e) carry on, except in a licensed factory, any of the following processes, namely,

  • (i) dividing an explosive into its components, or otherwise breaking up or unmaking any explosive,

  • (ii) making fit for use any damaged explosive, or

  • (iii) remaking, altering or repairing any explosive.

Marginal note:Manufacture of unmarked plastic explosives

• 6.1 (1) No person shall manufacture unmarked plastic explosives unless the explosives are

  • (a) manufactured in limited quantities solely for use in such of the following activities as are authorized, in writing, by the Chief Inspector of Explosives, namely,

    • (i) research, development or testing of new or modified explosives,

    • (ii) training in explosives detection, or in the development or testing of explosives detection equipment, or

    • (iii) forensic science activities; or

  • (b) destined to be incorporated as an integral part of a military device in Canada within three years after the coming into force of this section.

• Marginal note:Transport and possession of unmarked plastic explosives

  (2) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), no person shall transport or possess unmarked plastic explosives unless the explosives are

  • (a) transported or possessed in limited quantities solely for use as authorized in the manner referred to in paragraph (1)(a); or

  • (b) destined to be and are incorporated as an integral part of a military device in Canada within three years after the coming into force of this section.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) Unmarked plastic explosives manufactured or imported into Canada before the day on which this section comes into force may, in accordance with the regulations, be transported or possessed by

  • (a) a person who performs military or police functions, during the period that begins on the coming into force of this section and ends fifteen years later; or

  • (b) any other person, during the period that begins on the coming into force of this section and ends three years later.

• Marginal note:Importation or exportation of unmarked plastic explosives

  (4) No person shall import or export unmarked plastic explosives unless the explosives are incorporated as an integral part of a military device.

Marginal note:Illicit trafficking, etc.

6.2 No person shall knowingly

• (a) engage in illicit trafficking; or

• (b) acquire, possess, sell, offer for sale, transport or deliver any illicitly trafficked explosive.

Licences and Permits

Marginal note:Licences and permits

• 7 (1) The Minister may issue

  • (a) licences for factories and magazines;

  • (b) permits for vehicles used for the transportation of explosives; and

  • (c) certificates for carrying out, on an occasional and temporary basis, activities relating to the manufacture, testing or storage of explosives or the use of fireworks or the training of persons in the use of fireworks.

• Marginal note:Additional conditions

  (2) The Minister may make any licence, permit or certificate referred to in subsection (1) subject to any term or condition, in addition to those prescribed by the regulations, that the Minister considers necessary for the protection of any person or property, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, compliance with security or safety standards in respect of any factory or magazine or any class thereof that are supplementary to but not inconsistent with those provided for under paragraph 5(g.1).

Marginal note:Inexplosive component parts

8 Notwithstanding anything in this Act, the Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister, accompanied by a certificate from the Chief Inspector of Explosives approving of the nature of the components and of the final explosive product, may allow the inexplosive component parts of an authorized explosive to be assembled and blended at or near the place of use.

Marginal note:Permits

• 9 (1) The Minister may issue permits for the importation or exportation, or the transportation in transit through Canada, of explosives.

• Marginal note:No import, export or transport without permit

  (2) Except as provided by the regulations, no person shall, without a permit issued under this section, import or export, or transport in transit through Canada, any explosive.

• Marginal note:Evidence of financial responsibility

  (3) The Minister may require any person who engages or proposes to engage in the importation or exportation, or the transportation in transit through Canada, of any explosive and who does not reside in Canada or have a chief place of business or head office in Canada to provide evidence of financial responsibility in the form of insurance, or in the form of an indemnity bond or a suretyship, satisfactory to the Minister, or in any other form satisfactory to the Minister.

Marginal note:Applications

10 An application for a licence, permit or certificate issued pursuant to section 7 or a permit issued pursuant to section 9 shall be made in such manner and be accompanied by such information and other material as are prescribed by the regulations.

Marginal note:Form

10.1 Licences, permits and certificates issued pursuant to section 7 and permits issued pursuant to section 9 shall be in the form prescribed by the Minister.

Marginal note:No alterations without a permit

• 11 (1) The operator of a factory, magazine or vehicle for which a licence or permit has been issued under section 7 shall not,

  • (a) in the case of a factory or magazine, relocate or make any alteration or addition to the factory or magazine or rebuild any part thereof, or

  • (b) in the case of a vehicle, make any alteration to the vehicle

  until the operator has obtained written authority therefor from the Minister.

• Marginal note:Emergency situations

  (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), an operator referred to in that subsection may undertake any of the activities referred to therein with the approval of the Minister granted by any means where, in the opinion of the Minister, extraordinary circumstances exist for doing so or it is necessary to do so for the protection of any person or property.

Marginal note:Cessation of use where a special danger

12 The Minister may require the operator of any factory or magazine or the operator of any vehicle in which an explosive is being conveyed to stop using, or to use only under and subject to conditions specified by the Minister, any building, structure or vehicle that, from its location or from the nature of the processes carried on therein, constitutes, in the opinion of the Minister, a special danger.

Inspectors and Chemists

Marginal note:Appointment

• 13 (1) There may be appointed in the manner authorized by law a Chief Inspector of Explosives, together with such other inspectors and chemists as are necessary for the carrying out of this Act.

• Marginal note:Inspectors without remuneration

  (2) The Governor in Council may appoint, in addition to the inspectors appointed under subsection (1), such other inspectors and deputy inspectors, without remuneration, as the Governor in Council considers necessary for the carrying out of this Act.

Marginal note:Inspection

• 14 (1) For the purpose of ensuring compliance with this Act and the regulations, an inspector may, subject to subsection (5), at any reasonable time, enter and inspect any factory, magazine, vehicle or other place in which the inspector believes on reasonable grounds any explosive is being manufactured, tested, stored, sold or transported, any restricted component is being stored or sold, or any fireworks are being or are intended to be used, and the inspector may

  • (a) open or cause to be opened any thing found in that place that the inspector believes, on reasonable grounds, contains an explosive or a substance that may be used in the manufacture of an explosive;

  • (b) inspect any thing found in that place that the inspector believes, on reasonable grounds, is an explosive or any thing that may be used in the manufacturing, packing or marking of an explosive;

  • (c) take samples of any thing found in that place that the inspector believes, on reasonable grounds, is an explosive or a substance that may be used in the manufacture of an explosive;

  • (d) require any person to produce for inspection or copying, in whole or in part, any document that the inspector believes, on reasonable grounds, contains any information relevant to the administration of this Act or the regulations; and

  • (e) make copies of or take extracts from any document that the inspector believes, on reasonable grounds, contains any information relevant to the administration of this Act or the regulations.

• Marginal note:Vehicle

  (2) For the purpose of carrying out an inspection under subsection (1), an inspector may stop a vehicle or direct that it be moved to a place where the inspection may be carried out.

• Marginal note:Operation of data processing and copying equipment

  (3) In carrying out an inspection at any place under this section, an inspector may

  • (a) use or cause to be used any data processing system at the place to examine any data contained in or available to the system;

  • (b) reproduce or cause to be reproduced any record from the data in the form of a print-out or other intelligible output and take the print-out or other output for examination or copying; and

  • (c) use or cause to be used any copying equipment at the place to make copies of any record or other document.

• Marginal note:Certificate to be produced

  (4) An inspector, other than a peace officer, shall be furnished with a certificate of appointment and on entering any place described in subsection (1) shall, if so required, produce the certificate to the person in charge thereof.

• Marginal note:Warrant required to enter dwelling-house

  (5) An inspector may not enter a dwelling-house except with the consent of the occupant of the dwelling-house or under the authority of a warrant issued pursuant to subsection (6).

• Marginal note:Authority to issue warrant

  (6) Where on ex parte application a justice is satisfied by information on oath that

  • (a) the conditions for entry described in subsection (1) exist in relation to a dwelling-house,

  • (b) entry to the dwelling-house is necessary for any purpose relating to the administration of this Act or the regulations, and

  • (c) entry to the dwelling-house has been refused or there are reasonable grounds to believe that entry will be refused,

  the justice may issue a warrant authorizing the inspector named in the warrant to enter the dwelling-house, subject to any conditions that may be specified in the warrant.

• Marginal note:Use of force

  (7) An inspector who executes a warrant shall not use force unless the inspector is accompanied by a peace officer and the use of force is specifically authorized in the warrant.