THE EU LEGISLATION ON CIVIL FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION:

A GENERAL OVERVIEW

The Right to Bear Arms – Moscow31 October – 1 November 2013

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INSTITUT EUROPEEN DES ARMES DE CHASSE ET DE SPORT (IEACS)

IEACS is a non-profit International Association with Scientific aim founded in 1977 and registered under the Belgian law in 1980.

IEACS was recognized by the European Authorities as spokesperson for the sporting firearms industry.

IEACS mission is to study all the issues related to the sporting firearms industry and establish a dialogue between the Industry, the actors of other sectors and international and European bodies.

IEACS has established during the years solid relations with the European institution such as European Parliament, European Commission and the Council.

• Surveys conducted by various organizations indicate that the hunting and shooting sports market generates in excess of € 18 billion of economic activity annually. This activity supports more than 580.000 jobs and the overall impact on the economy of hunting and shooting sports activity would be in excess of € 40 billion, annually

• The EU sporting firearms activities represent a substantial socio-economic sector (including many thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises) with the participation of well over 10 million law-abiding and responsible citizens

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THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE SPORTING FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION INDUSTRY IN EUROPE

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE SPORTING FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION INDUSTRY IN EUROPE

• There are more than 1.800 manufacturers, 200 distributors and 14.000 retailers in Europe whose business is totally or largely dependent on the hunting or recreational shooting market

• The EU production of civilian firearms is estimated in 2 million units annually

• The EU production of sporting ammunition is estimated in less then 3 billion pieces annually

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DIRECTIVE 91/447/EEC OF THE COUNCILof 18 June 1991 on control of the acquisition and possession of weapons

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1.Definition, at European level, of firearm (prohibited and allowed in 4 categories) and gunsmith.

2. Establishment of the European Firearms Pass, a document that allows the free movement of hunters and target shooters bearing firearms throughout the Community (successively Union) 3. Establishment of control standards on the personal and professional reputation of the gunsmith and trace his/her activity through registers.4. It is established that the right to hold firearms and ammunition is given to citizens of MS who are, in general, older than 18 years old and do not constitute a danger to themselves, to public order or public security. 5. Establishment of a simplified system for the transfer of firearms within the Community (EU) , based on the prior agreement of the country of destination, and on the authorization of the country of departure. 6. It is established among MS a network to collect information in relation to firearms transfers and to the application of the Directive.

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RECENT EU LEGISLATIONThe recent implementations in European Law about firearms have been influenced by the endorsement of the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition. The Protocol covers both military weapons and civilian firearms, a mixture which is not always appropriate

For civil firearms, the implementation of the protocol occurred in two phases:• Directive 2008/51/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

of 21 May 2008 amending Council Directive 91/477/EEC on control of the acquisition and possession of civilian firearms concerning: marking of firearms; traceability and storage of data; brokering activities; neutralization / deactivation of firearms

• EU Regulation No. 258/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2012 implementing Article 10 of the Protocol, providing for export permits for civilian firearms, their parts and ammunition; measures related to import, transit, and temporary export.

DIRECTIVE 2008/51/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 21 May 2008 amending Council Directive 91/477/EEC on control of the acquisition and possession of weapons

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The Directive establishes common rules for the control of acquisition and possession of firearms in the Member States, as well as their transfer to another Member State. Its scope of application includes also ammunition, and therefore brings new definitions for “firearm”, “part” and “ammunition”.

The Directive also:

establishes the obligation to register all firearms transfers and to keep such records

encourages the exchange of information between Member States strictly controls the acquisition of firearms via the Internet and/or other

means of distance communication implements the Firearms pass

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REGULATION (EU) No 258/2012 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 14 March 2012 implementing Article 10 of the United Nations’ Protocol against the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, their parts and components and ammunition

1. The maximum time limit by which the authority must grant an export license cannot be longer than 60 working days.2. For transit permits, it is possible to apply the principle of tacit approval when the state towards which the request is sent does not reply within 20 working days .3. The transit permit does not apply to transport by air and sea crossing a third country or passing through its territorial waters.4. The transit permit is not required for temporary exports, for trade fairs and exhibitions, evaluations and repairs.5. Export authorizations provided: Individual licenses; Multiple licenses; Global licenses.6. The initial text provided that hunters and sport shooters, in case they’d go out from the territory of a Community country through a mountain passage not belonging to his/her own country, the authorities of that mountain passage had to notify his/her country of residence about the exit of firearms and ammunition. Now, this requirement is no longer valid, except in cases of suspicious legality.

19 NOVEMBER 2012, BRUSSELSHIGH-LEVEL CONFERENCE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION "FIGHT AGAINST ILLICIT TRAFFICKING IN FIREARMS. WHERE DO WE STAND”

 

In the speech delivered by Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, it was pointed out that the Commission will soon take action to provide answers to the public opinion. Europe must be aware that the journey so far undertaken to comply with the UN requests on the firearms protocol seems not to be sufficient. It is not possible to be passively subject to the entry into circulation of weapons from the recent Balkan war scenarios. Three goals were set for this part of legislature: • to identify certain types of civilian firearms to

include in the category of prohibited firearms• to have a common standard for the deactivation

of weapons and firearms• to have further controls on firearms owners

DG HOME

JANUARY 2013: EC Task Force Firearms The DG Home created the “EC Task Force Firearms” with the aim to publish a communication within the end of the year that should contain guidelines for the deactivation of firearms, the identification of the types of firearms to ban, and the existence of rules on technical security features to ensure that only rightful owners of firearms can actually use them.

APRIL 2013: Public consultation on a common approach to reducing the harm caused by criminal use of firearms in the EUThe DG Home launched the Public consultation on a common approach to reducing the harm caused by criminal use of firearms in the EU

11 APRIL 2013: Expert group on measures against illicit trafficking in firearms to safeguard the EU’s internal security (‘THE FIREARMS EXPERT GROUP FEG’)

DG HOME

21 OCTOBER 2013: COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Firearms and the internal security of the EU: protecting citizens and disrupting illegal trafficking

DG HOME

(1) Safeguarding the licit market for civilian firearms through new EU standards on which firearms can be sold for civilian use, how firearms should be marked, and how to licence persons who wish to possess and to use firearms.

(2) Reducing diversion of firearms into criminal hands through the development of effective standards on safe storage of civilian firearms and on how to deactivate civilian and military firearms, and greater efforts to reduce illicit trafficking of firearms (whether civilian or military) from outside the EU.

(3) Increasing pressure on criminal markets through better cross-border cooperation between police, customs and border guards and by assessing the need for common EU rules on which offences linked to firearms should be criminalised and what level of criminal sanctions should be imposed by Member States.

(4) Building better intelligence by gathering and sharing more information on firearms crimes, and by targeted training of law enforcement officers.

DEADLINES

• DECEMBER 2013: kickoff FEG meeting• APRIL 2014:

2 impact assestment studies:- Impact assessment study on options for

combatting illicit arms trafficking in EU- Impact assessment study on the

reopening of the firearms directive

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• JULY 2015: report of the EC on the situation resulting from the application of this Directive, accompanied, if appropriate, by proposals.

CONCLUSIONS

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PRIORITY 1MOST OF THE RESTRICTIONS ON THE FIREARMS FIELD COME FROM THE INTERNATIONAL ARENA (UNITED NATIONS, OSCE, WASSENAAR ARRANGEMENT)

PRIORITY 2TO PROTECT OUR FIELD IN ALL ITS ASPECTS, IT IS NECESSARY TO BE PART OF THE DISCUSSIONS

PRIORITY 3IT IS IMPORTANT TO JOIN OR CREATE ASSOCIATIONS AT NATIONAL LEVEL ABLE TO DEAL WITH NATIONAL AUTHORITIES

PRIORITY 4EVERY ASSOCIATION MUST SHARE INFORMATION AND JOIN RECOGNIZED REGIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS, MANY OF WHICH ALREADY EXIST. WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN THESE ASSOCIATIONS IS THE PEOPLE INVOLVED, NOT THE MONEY.

THANK YOU!

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For further information please contact: Dr. Mauro Silvis

IEACS Secretary GeneralC/O CONFINDUSTRIA

V.le dell’Astronomia, 30 00144 Rome – ITALYPh. +39 06 5903510

Fax: +39 06 54282691ieacs@anpam.it – www.ieacs.eu