Brussels, 20/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 20 September, the European Commission put forward a proposal aimed at limiting access to chemical products for making home-made explosivess. Cecilia Malmström, the European commissioner for home affairs declared: "Home-made explosives are tools used very frequently by terrorists and other criminals to perpetrate attacks. We need to enhance controls and prevent terrorists from taking advantage of existing differences in security rules among EU member states”. Most terrorist attacks in the last years have used explosive devices, which have frequently been based on home-made explosives, fabricated from chemicals that are currently widely available to the general public. Home-made explosives were used, for instance, in the London bombings in 2005 but also in several attempted attacks in the United Kingdom, Denmark, Italy and Germany.
Shift towards harmonised control in Europe. While several legislative and non-legislative measures exist at international, EU and national level, these are either not specifically focused on the security risks associated with certain chemicals or do not cover the entire EU. Chemicals that can be used to produce home-made explosives may be restricted or controlled in one country, while being easily obtained in another. According to the Commission, the most striking example involves ETA, which hid large quantities of precursors outside Spain, particularly in France and Portugal. The new rule aims to submit access to certain chemical products to the same level of control throughout the EU. Current disparities between the different systems governing chemical explosive devices not only have a negative impact on security but also on the way in which the internal market functions. These disparities are harmful to cross-border trade and other economic activities between producers and operators who operate in the supply chain in several different member states. EU level action would help remove these negative effects.
Restrictions and sanctions on access to chemical products. The regulation is expected to help reduce access among the public at large to high risk chemical products when they contain high chemical concentration levels which could be easily used for making home-made explosive devices. In order to reach this objective, public sales of certain chemical products above determined concentration thresholds, will be banned. The sale of these products containing higher concentration levels will only be authorised to users who can prove a legitimate need to use the said product. These users will be able to obtain a licence for purchasing the product in question. It will be up to each member state to define the rules for awarding licences. Any transaction suspected of having a link with the sale or use of chemical products and their combinations or the sale of products containing suspicious chemical substances on which concentration thresholds cannot be established, will be subject to notification. Each member state will work out the level of sanctions applicable to violations of the provisions in the regulation, in an effort to ensure that these sanctions are “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”. Member states will also carry out any measures necessary to ensure effective implementation. Finally, the proposed regulation will be accompanied by voluntary measures from the industry and the retail sales sector, which will be aimed at enhancing safety and raising awareness among the different actors in the chain of supply.
List of controlled products. As pointed out by Commissioner Malmström, the range of chemical products used in our daily lives is “enormous”. She explained that these different substances are used in fertiliser, herbicides and fungicides, and disinfectant and cleaning products, shampoos, contact lens cleanser, etc. The list of substances that cannot be made available to the public at large as such or in the mixtures containing them (unless their concentration levels are the same as or less than the established limits, are as follows: hydrogen peroxide (minimum amount present12 % w/w), nitromethane (30 % w/w), citric acid (3 % w/w), potassium chlorate (40 % w/w), potassium perchlorate (40 % w/w), sodium chlorate (40 % w/w), sodium perchlorate (40 % w/w), ammonium nitrate (16 % by weight of nitrogen in relation to ammonium nitrate). The list of the following substances or those present in mixtures or the subject of any sale in this connection must be notified: hexamine (used in shampoos), sulphuric acid (car batteries), acetone, potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, calcium nitrate, ammonium calcium nitrate.
The regulation will be a binding instrument and will enter into force 18 months after its adoption by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. Possession or use of chemical substances and products which contain them will still be authorised until 36 months after adoption of the regulation. (B.C./transl.fl)