Members' Research Service By / March 14, 2023

Import, export and transit measures for firearms [EU Legislation in Progress]

Article 1 of Directive (EU) 2021/555 on control of the acquisition and possession of weapons defines firearms as ‘any portable barrelled weapon that expels, is designed to expel or may be converted to expel, a shot, bullet or projectile by the action of a combustible propellant’.

© CSschmuck / Adobe Stock

Written by Clément Evroux (1st edition).

According to the European Commission, the manufacturing and trade in firearms, their essential components and ammunition employs around 150 000 people in the EU. Following the terrorist attacks in the EU of the last decade, the EU decided to update its legislation on civilian firearms. In 2020, the Commission adopted the 2020-2025 action plan on firearms trafficking to help curb illegal flows of firearms, and ammunition, while also strengthening the legal market. The publication of Directive (EU) 2021/555 on control of the acquisition and possession of weapons on 6 April 2021 was the first legislative outcome of the plan.

In October 2022, the Commission presented a proposal for a regulation on import, export and transit measures for firearms, their essential components and ammunition, another legislative commitment in its action plan. The proposed regulation would pursue three main objectives: a) neutralising the risks of trafficking at import and export; b) ensuring traceability in the firearms trade, based on systematic written information; and c) promoting efficient implementation of controls. Compared with Regulation (EU) 258/2012, currently in force and which it supersedes, the proposal extends the material scope to exports, provides for consistent interpretation of rules across Member States, and allows for the flow of data at EU level.

Versions

Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on import, export and transit measures for firearms, their essential components and ammunition, implementing Article 10 of the United Nations Protocol against the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, their parts and components and ammunition, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UN Firearms Protocol) (recast)
Committees responsible:International Trade (INTA)COM(2022) 0480
27.10.2022
Rapporteur:Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany)2022/0288(COD)
Shadow rapporteurs:Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou (EPP, Greece)
Urmas Paet (Renew, Estonia)
To be appointed (Greens/EFA)
Danilo Oscar Lancini (ID, Italy),
To be appointed (ECR)
Emmanuel Maurel (The Left, France)
Ordinary legislative procedure (COD)
(Parliament and Council on equal footing
– formerly ‘co-decision’)
Next steps expected: Publication of the draft report

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