Proposal for a Regulation on import, export and transit measures for firearms, their essential components and ammunition, implementing Article 10 of the UN Firearms Protocol (recast)

Summary:

Legislative initiative - tabled by the European Commission on 27 October 2022 - focusing on the import, export and transit measures for firearms, their essential components and ammunition. It seeks to implement 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. This is a recast of a previous legislative act.

Further information:

The existing rules of the European Union (EU) on import, export and transit of firearms are contained in Regulation (EU) No 258/2012, also known as the Firearms Regulation. Its overall strategic objective was to reduce the risk of illicit trafficking in firearms for civilian use by ensuring coherence across Member States in rules on external trade in line with Article 10 of the UN Firearms Protocol.

The proposed update aim to facilitate the legal trade of firearms for civilian use and reduce the administrative burden of firearms manufacturers, dealers and users. The revised rules seek to enhance security and address firearms trafficking, and to enable coordinated controls and risk assessments to improve the traceability of firearms. It aims to solve an existing grey and overlap between the scope of the Firearms Regulation and of the Common Position 2008/944/CFSP defining common rules governing control of exports of military technology and equipment. It also seeks to ensure consistency between the Firearms Regulation and Directive (EU) 2021/555, also known as the Firearms Directive.

As part of the Security Union Strategy, the Commission set out an EU Strategy to tackle Organised Crime 2021-2025 and the 2020-2025 Action Plan on firearms trafficking. The draft law was first announced in 2020 and eventually adopted by the European Commission on 27 October 2022.

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News

Associated Press (AP News), 27/10/2022: EU to tighten gun trade laws as Ukraine war fuels arms fears https://apnews.com/article/europe-business-gun-politics-global-trade-european-union-bb540619b247749bbcdfd128a3f7d903

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Official

EUR-LEX: SWD(2022)298: Staff Working Document accompanying the Proposal - Impact Assessment Report https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=SWD:2022:298:FIN

EUR-LEX: SWD(2022)299: Staff Working Document accompanying the Proposal - Executive Summary of the Impact Assessment Report https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=SWD:2022:299:FIN

European Commission: DG Migration and Home Affairs: Trafficking in firearms https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/internal-security/organised-crime-and-human-trafficking/trafficking-firearms_en

European Commission: Press Release, 27/10/2022: Firearms: Updated rules to increase security and facilitate legal trade https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_6427

European Commission: Questions and Answers – Revision of EU rules on the import and export of firearms (27 October 2022) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_22_6428

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