2000/130/JHA: Council Common Position of 31 January 2000 on the proposed 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
Date: 2000-01-31
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: arms limitation, arms trade, fight against crime, firearms and munitions, illicit trade, organised crime

12. 2. 2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 37/1

(Acts adopted pursuant to Title VI of the Treaty on European Union)

COUNCIL COMMON POSITION

of 31 January 2000

on the proposed protocol against the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, their parts
and components and ammunition, supplementing the United Nations Convention against trans-
national organised crime

(2000/130/JHA)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

incompatibility between the proposed Protocol and
instruments drawn up in the Union.

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in partic-
ular Article 34(2)(a) thereof,

Having regard to the initiative of the Portuguese Republic,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

recognised of
for

international co-
The importance is
operation in criminal matters
the purposes of
preventing and combating all serious forms of crime,
including illicit arms trafficking, as provided for in
Article 29 of the Treaty.

Arrangements have been made for the development and
negotiation of a protocol against the illicit manufac-
turing of and trafficking in firearms, their parts and
components and ammunition, supplementing the United
Nations Convention against
transnational organised
crime.

The United Nations General Assembly has decided that
the final text of the draft Convention and the Protocols
thereto should be submitted to it for early adoption
prior to a high-level signing conference which will take
place in Palermo.

A number of international instruments adopted in the
Union and in other fora already provide for the adop-
tion of measures to combat the illegal manufacture of
and trafficking in destructive devices.

A Joint Action was adopted on 17 December 1998 on
the European Union's contribution to combating the
destabilising accumulation and spread of small arms and
light weapons (1).

(6)

It is desired to contribute as fully as possible to the
the proposed Protocol and to avoid
negotiation of

(7)

(8)

The Council
in its Conclusions of 5 October 1998
requested the Presidency to propose one or several joint
positions, in accordance with the Treaty on European
Union, in relation to the draft United Nations Conven-
tion and its Protocols.

Account is taken of the Joint Position adopted by the
Council on 29 March 1999 on the proposed United
Nations Convention against organised crime (2),

HAS ADOPTED THIS COMMON POSITION:

Article 1

In the negotiation of the draft United Nations Protocol against
the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, their
parts and components and ammunition, the Member States of
the European Union shall support the definition of a firearm
based on the concept of a lethal barrelled weapon that expels,
is designed to expel, or may be readily converted to expel a
shot, bullet or projectile by the action of an explosive, but
excluding antique firearms or their replicas. In that context the
definition of an antique firearm should be dealt with under
domestic law but should not include a firearm manufactured
after 1870.

Article 2

For the purposes of the draft Protocol, explosive weapons, such
as bombs, grenades, rockets or missiles, should not be regarded
as firearms. However, provision should be made in the text for
the criminalisation of the illicit manufacture of and trafficking
in such weapons.

(1) OJ L 9, 15.1.1999, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 87, 31.3.1999, p. 1.

L 37/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

12. 2. 2000

Article 3

Article 4

1. Member States agree that further consideration of any
question relating to the illicit manufacture of and trafficking in
explosives by criminals and their use for criminal purposes
should await the outcome of the study to be carried out by the
ad hoc expert group identified in United Nations General
Assembly Resolution E/1999/30 and the possible elaboration
of an internaitonal instrument on the illicit manufacture of and
trafficking in explosives by the United Nations Ad Hoc
trans-
Committee on elaboration of a convention against
national organised crime.

2. Member States shall support the work of the United
Nations ad hoc expert group and shall seek to ensure that its
activities will be completed as quickly as possible.

The Council shall endeavour to achieve further Common Posi-
tions, as necessary,

in relation to the draft Protocol.

Done at Brussels, 31 January 2000.

For the Council

The President

J. PINA MOURA