CELEX: 51987PC0383
Language: en
Date: 1987-07-28
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON THE CONTROL OF THE ACQUISITION AND POSSESSION OF WEAPONS

No C 235/8                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                  1.9.87
                 Proposal for a Council Directive on the control of the acquisition and possession of weapons
                                                      COM(87) 383 final
                                (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 6 August 1987)
                                                        (87/C 235/06)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           from one Member State to another, and does not affect
                                                                   the right of Member States to take measures to prevent
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European              illegal trade in weapons;
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100 A
thereof,                                                           Whereas Article 223 of the Treaty provides that any
                                                                   Member State may take such measures as it considers
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                 necessary for the protection of the essential interests of
                                                                   its security which are connected with the production of
In cooperation with the European Parliament,                       or trade in arms, munitions and war material; whereas
                                                                   that Article does not preclude Community measures
                                                                   designed to control strictly any transfer of weapons and
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                   to prohibit all travel within the Community by persons
Social Committee,                                                  possessing weapons of war,
Whereas Article 3 (c) of the Treaty provides that the
activities of the Community shall include the abolition,           HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
as between Member States, of obstacles to freedom of
movement for persons;
                                                                                             Article 1
Whereas, at its meeting in Fontainebleau on 25 and 26              1. For the purposes of this Directive, 'weapons' and
June 1984, the European Council expressly approved the             'firearms' shall have the meanings ascribed to them in the
objective of abolishing all police and customs formalities         Annex.
at internal Community frontiers;
                                                                   2. For the purposes of this Directive, 'dealer' shall
Whereas the total abolition of controls and formalities at         mean any natural or legal person whose trade or business
internal Community frontiers entails the fulfilment of             consists wholly or partly in the manufacture, sale,
certain fundamental conditions; whereas in its White               purchase, exchange, hiring out, repair or conversion of
Paper 'Completing the internal market' the Commission              weapons.
stated that the abolition of controls on persons and on
the safety of objects transported entails, among other
things, the approximation of weapons legislation;                  3. For the purposes of this Directive, persons shall,
                                                                   regardless of their nationality, be deemed to be residents
Whereas abolition of controls on the possession of                 of the country in whose territory their domicile is
weapons at internal Community frontiers necessitates the           situated.
adoption of rules enabling controls to be carried out
within Member States on the acquisition and possession
                                                                                             Article 2
of firearms, and on their transfer into another Member
State;                                                             Without prejudice to the rights conferred on residents of
                                                                   the Member States by Article 7 (2), Member States may
Whereas passing from one Member State to another                   adopt in their weapons legislation provisions which are
while in possession of a weapon should, in principle, be           more stringent than those provided for in this Directive.
prohibited; whereas a derogation therefrom is acceptable
only if a procedure is adopted that enables Member                 Member States may prohibit persons resident in their
States to be notified that a firearm is to be brought into         territory from purchasing or acquiring a weapon in
their territory;                                                   another Member State only where they prohibit the
                                                                   purchase or acquisition of such a weapon in their own
Whereas, however, more flexible rules should be adopted            territory.
in respect of sport and target shooting in order to avoid
impeding the free movement of persons more than is
necessary;                                                                                   Article 3
                                                                   Each Member State shall make the pursuit of the
Whereas the Directive is intended only to abolish all              occupation of dealer in its territory conditional upon
controls on the possession of weapons when passing                 authorization.
 ---pagebreak---   1.9. 87                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 235/9
 Each dealer shall keep a register in which information             Where the Member State authorizes such transfer, it
 concerning all firearms received or disposed of by him             shall issue a licence incorporating all the particulars
 shall be recorded, including such particulars as enable            referred to in the first subparagraph. Such licence shall
 the weapon to be identified, in particular the type, make,         accompany the firearm during the consignment or
 model, calibre and serial number thereof, and the names            transport operation until it reaches its destination; it shall
 and addresses of the supplier and the person acquiring             be produced whenever so required by the authorities of
 the weapon.                                                        the Member States.
                                                                    The Member State which issues the licence shall
                           Article 4
                                                                    immediately send a copy thereof to the Member State of
Firearms shall be sold or otherwise disposed of to                  destination and to Member States through which the
persons not resident in the territory of the Member State           firearm is to pass in transit.
in which such sale or disposal takes place only if the
transaction is recorded in a dealer's register as referred          3. Each Member State may supply the other Member
to in Article 3.                                                    States with a list of firearms whose transfer to its
                                                                    territory may not be authorized without its prior
                           Article 5                                consent. The authorization referred to in Article 5 (1)
                                                                    shall be deemed to constitute such consent.
 1. Member States shall prohibit the handing over of a
firearm to a person resident in another Member State                4. Where a firearm is to be imported from a third
unless that person is authorized to receive it by his               country, the dealer shall supply the Member State of
Member State of residence.                                          importation with all the particulars referred to in the first
                                                                   subparagraph of paragraph 2. Where it authorizes import-
Member States shall permit the handing over of a                    ation, the Member State of importation shall
firearm to a person resident in a third country only               immediately supply the said particulars to the Member
where they satisfy themselves that such firearm leaves the         States through which the firearm is to pass in transit.
territory of the Community.                                        The import licence must accompany the firearm during
                                                                   the consignment or transport operation until it reaches
2. Small quantities of ammunition may be sold and                  its destination; it must be produced whenever so required
handed over to a traveller in a Member State who is not            by the authorites of the Member States.
resident in that Member State for the weapons he is
permitted to possess in the territory of that Member
State in accordance with Article 7.                                5. Each Member State shall inform the other Member
                                                                   States and the Commission of the national authorities
                                                                   responsible for applying the procedure laid down in this
                           Article 6                               Article.
1. Firearms may, without prejudice to Article 7, be
transferred from one Member State to another, or to or                                        Article 7
from a third country, only in accordance with the
procedure laid down in the following paragraphs. Only a             1. The procedure laid down in Article 6 shall be
dealer may transfer a firearm or cause a firearm to be             followed in respect of possession of a firearm in the
transferred.                                                       course of travel in two or more Member States.
                                                                   An application for authorization to possess a firearm
2. Where a firearm is to be transferred to another                 shall, by way of derogation from Article 6, state:
Member State or to a third country, the dealer shall
before consignment or transportation supply the                    — the name and address of the person who wishes to
following particulars to the Member State in which such                 possess the firearm,
firearm is situated:
                                                                   — particulars enabling the firearm to be identified,
— the names and addresses of the person selling or
     disposing of the firearm and of the person purchasing         — the places at which and the respective periods during
     or acquiring it or, where appropriate, of the owner,               which the person concerned plans to be present in
                                                                        the other Member States, and the means of transport
— the address to which the firearm is to be consigned                   to be used for the journey,
     or transported,
—. the number of firearms            to be consigned      or       — the grounds on which the person concerned wishes to
                                                                        possess the firearm during the journey.
     transported,
— the particulars enabling the firearm to be identified,           Where the firearm is included in a list supplied pursuant
                                                                   to Article 6 (3) by a Member State in which the person
— the means of transfer,                                           concerned is to travel, authorization may be granted
                                                                   without the prior consent of that Member State only if
— the date of departure and the estimated date of                  the traveller plans to be present in its territory for less
     arrival.                                                      than 48 hours.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 235/10                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                  1.9.87
2.    Possession of a sporting or target firearm shall be                                       Article 9
permitted in the course of travel in two or more Member
States where the person possessing the firearm is in                  1.    Member States shall, without prejudice to
possession of a declaration issued by the authorities of              paragraphs 3 and 4, abstain from carrying out controls
the Member State in which such firearm is situated. That              on the possession of weapons at internal Community
document shall contain:                                               frontiers from 31 December 1992 at the latest.
— the name and address of the person authorized,                      2.    Member States shall intensify controls on the
— particulars enabling the sporting or target firearm to              possession of weapons at external Community frontiers.
    be identified,
— a statement that the person concerned is authorized                 3.    This Directive shall not preclude the carrying out
    in that Member State to possess such sporting or                  of controls by Member States or by the carrier at the
    target firearm,                                                   time of boarding of a means of transport.
— particulars of the places at which and the periods
                                                                      4.    Member States shall inform the Commission of the
    during which the hunting, shooting or sports
                                                                      manner in which the controls referred to in paragraphs 2
    competitions for the purposes of which the firearm is
                                                                      and 3 are carried out. The Commission shall collate this
    being transported in the possession of the person
                                                                      information and make it available to all Member States.
    concerned are to take place.
For the purposes of this paragraph, each Member State
shall recognize as 'sporting firearm' or 'target firearm'                                       Article 10
any object recognized as such by the other Member                     Member States shall render failure to comply with the
States in the abovementioned declaration.                             provisions of this Directive subject to the same criminal
                                                                      sanctions as failure to comply with comparable national
3.    A person authorized to possess a firearm or, as the
                                                                      provisions.
case may be, a sporting or target firearm, must be in
possession of the authorization referred to in paragraph
1 or the declaration referred to in paragraph 2,                                                Article 11
throughout the journey; the document must be produced
whenever so required by the authorities of the Member                 Member States shall bring into force the laws, regu-
States.                                                               lations and administrative provisions necessary to comply
                                                                      with this Directive not later than 30 June 1990. They
                                                                      shall forthwith inform the Commission and the other
                            Article 8
                                                                      Member States of the measures taken.
The possession of weapons by persons passing from one
Member State to another shall be prohibited, except in                                          Article 12
the circumstances defined in Articles 6 and 7 and
provided the conditions laid down therein are met.                    This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
                                                                ANNEX
              For the purposes of this Directive:
              A. 'Weapon' means:
                 — any firearm within the meaning of point B of this Annex,
                 — any side-arm whose blade has more than one cutting edge, any bayonet, stiletto, dagger, flick-knife,
                     throwing-knife or swordstick, or,
                 — any mace, club, truncheon, knuckleduster, cosh or sling.
              B. 'Firearm' means:
                 1. any object which (i) is designed or adapted as a weapon from which a shot, bullet or other missile,
                    or a noxious gas, liquid or other substance may be discharged by means of explosive, gas or air
                    pressure or by any other means of propulsion, and (ii) falls within one of the specific descriptions
                    below, it being understood that subparagraphs (a) to (f) inclusive and (i) include only objects
                    utilizing an explosive propellant:
                    (a) automatic arms;
                    (b) short arms with semi-automatic, repeating or single-shot mechanism;
                    (c) long arms with semi-automatic or repeating mechanism with at least one rifled barrel;
 ---pagebreak--- 1.9.87                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                 N o C 235/11
          (d) single-shot long arms with at least one rifled barrel;
          (e) long arms with semi-automatic or repeating meachanism and smooth-bore barrel(s) only;
          (f)   portable rocket launchers;
          (g) any arms or other instruments designed to cause danger to life or health of persons by firing
                stupefying toxic or corrosive substances;
          (h) flame-throwers meant for attack or defence;
          (i)   single-shot long arms with smooth-bore barrel(s) only;
          (j)   long arms with gas propellant mechanism;
          (k) short arms with gas propellant mechanism;
          (1) long arms with compressed air propellant mechanism;
          (m) short arms with compressed air propellant mechanism;
          (n) arms propelling projectiles by means of a spring only;
                provided always that there shall be excluded from this paragraph 1 any object otherwise
                included therein which:
                  i) has been permanently rendered unfit for use;
                 ii) on account of its low power is not subject to control in the Member States;
                iii) is designed for alarm, signalling, life saving, animal slaughtering, harpooning or for
                     industrial or technical purposes on condition that such objects are usable for the stated
                     purpose only;
                (iv) was manufactured before 1871 or to a design dating from before 1871;
       2. the firing mechanism, chamber, cylinder or barrel of any object comprised in paragraph 1 above;
       3. any ammunition specially designed to be discharged by an object comprised in subparagraphs (a) to
          (f) inclusive, (i), 0)> (k) or (n) of paragraph 1 above and any substance or matter specially designed
          to be discharged by an instrument comprised in subparagraph (g) of paragraph 1 above;
       4. telescope sights with light beam or telescope sights with electronic light amplification device or
          infra-red device provided that they are designed to be fitted to any object comprised in paragraph 1
          above;
       5. a silencer designed to be fitted to any object comprised in paragraph 1 above;
       6. any grenade, bomb or other missile containing explosive or incendiary devices.
       For the purposes of this definition:
       (a) 'automatic* denotes a weapon which is capable of firing in bursts each time the trigger is operated;
       (b) 'semi-automatic' denotes a weapon which fires a projectile each time the trigger alone is operated;
       (c) 'repeating mechanism' denotes a weapon the mechanism of which in addition to the trigger must be
           operated each time the weapon is to be fired;
       (d) 'single-shot' denotes a weapon whereof the barrel or barrels must be loaded before each shot;
       (e) 'short' denotes a weapon with a barrel not exceeding 30 centimetres or whose overall length does
            not exceed 60 centimetres;
       (f) 'long' denotes a weapon with a barrel exceeding 30 centimetres whose overall length exceeds 60
            centimetres.