D19-13-2 Update: Firearms, Weapons, and the TI 9898.00.00 Trap Most Brokers Miss

Why This Memo Matters

CBSA published a revised D19-13-2 in July 2026, and if you broker anything that touches firearms, replica devices, pepper spray canisters, or even certain airsoft parts, the update just made your job harder. The memo now explicitly cross-walks tariff item 9898.00.00 of the Customs Tariff with the Criminal Code definitions of prohibited and restricted devices, the Firearms Act licensing requirements, and the Export and Import Permits Act (EIPA) permit regime. That sounds like a compliance refresher, but the practical effect is this: one mis-step in classification or missing permit documentation and your CAD filing stops at the first OGD hold, your release-prior-to-payment bond doesn’t cover you, and your importer is explaining to their customer why a shipment of tactical flashlight mounts is sitting in a CBSA examination bay for the next ten business days.

Most brokers who don’t work this product category regularly treat TI 9898.00.00 as a catch-all for “stuff that needs extra paperwork.” The revised memo makes it clear that CBSA expects you to know whether the device in question is prohibited under Criminal Code s. 84, restricted under the Firearms Act, or subject to EIPA import permit under the Automatic Firearms Country Control List. If you file the CAD without the right permit reference or with a generic HS code that doesn’t signal the OGD trigger, the system won’t flag it until a human examiner pulls the container. By then, your importer has missed their cross-dock window and you’re fielding calls about why a “flashlight mount” needs a letter from the RCMP Canadian Firearms Program.

What Changed in the Update

The July 2026 revision tightens three areas. First, CBSA expanded the list of devices that fall under TI 9898.00.00 even if they ship separately from a firearm. That includes barrelled upper receivers, certain magazines over the Criminal Code capacity limits, and sound moderators (suppressors) regardless of whether they’re marketed as “solvent traps” or “fuel filters.” If it meets the Criminal Code definition of a prohibited device, it’s 9898.00.00, full stop. The memo cites Criminal Code s. 84(1) definitions verbatim, so there’s no room for the importer to argue that a 30-round pistol magazine is a “spare part” under HS 9305.

Second, the memo clarifies that replica firearms—anything that closely resembles a real firearm in shape and configuration—are prohibited devices unless they meet the airsoft velocity exemption (366 to 500 feet per second, muzzle energy under 5.7 joules). We’ve seen importers try to bring in deactivated training replicas under HS 9503 as toys, only to have CBSA reclassify them as prohibited replicas under Criminal Code s. 84(1). The revised D19-13-2 now explicitly instructs officers to refer to the RCMP Firearms Reference Table when in doubt, which means your classification opinion needs to cite that table if you’re advising an importer that their product is exempt.

Third, the memo formalizes the documentation chain for EIPA permits. If the goods require an import permit under the Export and Import Permits Act, the permit number must appear on the CAD at line level, and the physical or electronic permit must be available for CBSA verification before release. That’s not new policy, but the memo now states that CBSA will not grant release prior to payment if the permit field is blank or if the permit number doesn’t validate in the OGD system. For brokers who run high-volume release prior to payment workflows, that’s a workflow killer. You can’t file the CAD on a preliminary basis and back-fill the permit later. The permit has to be in hand before you hit submit.

Filing the CAD When TI 9898.00.00 Applies

When you file a CAD for goods that fall under TI 9898.00.00, the line-level coding has to be exact. You’re declaring the underlying HS classification (e.g., HS 9303.30 for certain muzzle-loading firearms, HS 9304.00 for spring-air rifles, HS 9305.10 for shotgun parts), but you’re also flagging TI 9898.00.00 to signal the Criminal Code or EIPA overlay. The CBSA system won’t auto-populate the OGD hold unless that tariff item is present. If you miss it, the shipment may release on a standard PARS or RMD clearance, and your importer will get a post-release AMPS demand for failing to present the required permit. The Master Penalty Document lists “failure to present import permit” as a G1 contravention, which carries a base penalty of CAD 1,000 for a first occurrence and scales sharply on repeat.

The revised memo also clarifies that if the goods are in-transit through Canada (e.g., a U.S. exporter shipping to a third country via Montreal), they’re still subject to Criminal Code prohibitions while on Canadian soil. That means your in-transit entry under A8 or Form A10 still requires a declaration that the goods aren’t prohibited devices, and CBSA can seize them if they are. We’ve had clients ship tactical accessories through Montreal assuming that in-transit means no Canadian regulation applies, only to lose the shipment when CBSA examined the container and found prohibited devices mixed in with compliant hunting scopes. The memo now states explicitly that in-transit goods are “subject to the laws of Canada,” which closes the loophole some importers thought existed.

Practical Risk Points

The biggest risk is mis-classification at the HS 6-digit level. A lot of firearm parts and accessories sit in HS 9305, but not everything in 9305 is automatically exempt from TI 9898.00.00. If the part is a regulated component under the Firearms Act (e.g., a restricted trigger assembly), you need both the HS code and the 9898.00.00 overlay, plus the EIPA permit if the exporting country is on the Automatic Firearms Country Control List. If you’re not sure, use our HS classification tool to pull the latest tariff notes, or send us the technical specs and we’ll walk through the Criminal Code cross-check.

The second risk is assuming that a product marketed as “not a firearm” or “deactivated” is exempt. CBSA doesn’t care what the foreign shipper calls it. If the device meets the Criminal Code definition of a replica firearm or a prohibited device, it’s prohibited in Canada, period. The revised memo includes photos and dimensional criteria that CBSA officers use to make that determination, and they’re trained to refer ambiguous cases to the RCMP lab for testing. That’s a minimum two-week hold while the lab runs the analysis, and if it comes back prohibited, the goods are seized and the importer forfeits any duties, GST, and storage fees already incurred.

Third risk is timing. If you’re filing post-arrival and the permit isn’t in the system yet because Global Affairs Canada is still processing the application, you can’t release the goods. There’s no provisional release mechanism for TI 9898.00.00 items. The shipment sits in a CBSA-approved sufferance warehouse until the permit clears. If your importer is new to firearms or tactical goods and didn’t apply for the EIPA permit until after the shipment left the origin port, you’re looking at thirty days of dwell time and mounting storage fees while they expedite the permit application. That’s a planning conversation you need to have before the PO is issued, not after the ocean container hits the Port of Montreal.

When to Loop in Compliance Early

If your client imports anything that could plausibly be called a weapon, a device, or a firearm part, get the technical literature and photos to your compliance team before the first shipment. We’ll cross-check the Criminal Code definitions, confirm whether an EIPA permit is required, and draft the CAD coding sheet so your broker doesn’t have to guess at the examination stage. The revised D19-13-2 is sixty pages of cross-references, and CBSA expects brokers to get it right the first time. The penalty for getting it wrong isn’t just an AMPS assessment; it’s a seizure under the Criminal Code, which means your importer loses the goods and possibly faces referral to the RCMP for further investigation.

We file CADs against revised D-memos the week they publish, so if your next shipment touches firearms, replicas, or tactical accessories, we’ve already built the workflow. Talk to us.

Source: CSCB