WRITTEN QUESTION P-1671/02 by Martin Schulz (PSE) to the Commission. Firearms legislation in the European Union.
Date: 2002-06-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU law, European Union, approximation of laws, arms trade, personal weapon, public safety

14.11.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 277 E/235

(2002/C 277 E/258)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1658/02

by Emmanouil Bakopoulos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(11 June 2002)

Subject: Stray dogs in Athens

Unofficial figures put the number of stray dogs in Athens at the present time at 300 000. With the 2004
Olympic Games in Athens in view, the organising committee proposes to take them off the streets and
find them alternative shelter.

Will the Commission express its concern that a viable solution should be found to this problem so that
these dogs are not put down for the sake of the Olympic Games?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(17 July 2002)

Although a considerable body of Union legislation for the protection of animals has been adopted this is
principally concerned with animals on farms, slaughter and killing of farmed livestock, transport and
laboratory animals.

Other matters, such as the control of stray dogs, remain within the exclusive competence of the Member
States.

There is, in consequence, no legal basis for the Commission to intervene with the Greek authorities about
this matter.

(2002/C 277 E/259)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1671/02

by Martin Schulz (PSE) to the Commission

(5 June 2002)

Subject: Firearms legislation in the European Union

The tragic events of 26 April 2002, when a final-year pupil shot 16 people at the Gutenberg-Gymnasium
in Erfurt, led to a broad public debate in Germany and the EU concerning the approach to violence in our
society. Attention has particularly focused on firearms legislation.

Would it be possible to harmonise firearms legislation in the EU in such a way as to make access to
firearms subject to uniform criteria?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(1 July 2002)

At European level, Council Directive 91/477/EEC of 18 June 1991 (1) already constitutes a common set of
regulations to control the acquisition, possession and transfer of weapons from one EU Member State to
another.

This Directive sets out categories of firearms whose acquisition and possession by private persons is either
prohibited, subject to authorisation or subject to declaration. The Directive also lays down that firearms
may only transferred from one Member State to another in accordance with the procedures stipulated
therein, by which Member States are informed that a firearm has entered their territory. For most of its
provisions, Directive 91/477/EEC allows the Member States to adopt measures which are even stricter than
those it has laid down and the Directive is without prejudice to the application of national provisions
concerning the carrying of weapons, hunting or target shooting.

C 277 E/236

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

14.11.2002

These arrangements were the subject of a report from the Commission to the Parliament and the Council
at the end of 2000 (2). In this report, the Commission pointed out that Directive 91/477/EEC was the result
of a compromise reached after several years of negotiations and that, generally speaking, the Member
States and the interested parties were satisfied with the instruments of the Directive. Since the latter were
not inclined to see the balance struck by the Directive upset by substantial modifications to its framework,
its
the Commission stated that revision of the Directive would consist more in clarifying some of
provisions than in making substantial changes, in order to ensure that the Directive was applied in a
uniform manner throughout the Community.

(1) OJ L 256, 13.9.1991.
(2) COM(2000) 837 final.

(2002/C 277 E/260)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1683/02

by Ursula Schleicher (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(12 June 2002)

Subject: Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption (Drinking Water

Directive)

Experts involved in the transposition into national law of Directive 98/83/EC (1) on the quality of water
intended for human consumption (Drinking Water Directive) have criticised a fundamental error in the
Directive which regulates the quality of drinking water but not the measures necessary to guarantee this
quality. The current limit values for lead of 40 µg/l are already frequently exceeded, particularly when
drinking water stands in lead pipes for long periods of time.

Does the Commission have any information on specific measures taken by the Member States to reduce
levels of lead for the population?

Compliance with the future limit values of 25 µg/l and 10 µg/l by 2013 will be impossible unless lead
pipes are replaced.

Does the Commission have any information on which Member States provide aid or subsidies for the
replacement of lead pipes?

(1) OJ L 330, 5.12.1998, p. 32.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(25 July 2002)

With respect to the measures needed to guarantee the quality of drinking water, Article 13(6) of the
Drinking Water Directive (1) requires Member States to produce a report
(to be forwarded to the
Commission) on the measures they have taken or plan to take to fulfil their obligations pursuant to
Article 6(3) and Annex I, Part B, note 10. The first report has to cover the years 2002, 2003 and 2004 and
is due before the end of 2005. Concerning the exceeding of the current standard for lead, which is fixed in
the Directive at 50 micrograms per liter (µg/l), the relevant information will also be available by 2005.

The information of the Commission on specific measures taken by the Member States to reduce levels of
lead for the population is only due by the end of 2005. Nevertheless, some facts are already known at the
present stage. The Commission has been informed of measures taken, or foreseen, by Member States such
as lead pipe replacement
the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and United
Kingdom), water treatment such as phosphate dosing and water softening (France, the Netherlands and
United Kingdom). Also many Member States provide consumers with information on health risks of lead
exposure and on measures to take when they have lead plumbed installations within house.

(Germany, Spain,

Ireland,