Brussels, 20/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 20 November, MEPs in Strasbourg adopted new rules to restrict the general public's access to bomb-making materials. With the adoption of the report by Jan Mulder (ALDE, NL), with 595 votes to 12 and 14 abstentions, the European Parliament above all supported the requirement to have a licence for purchasing over and above a certain amount of chemical substances.
The main objective of these new rules is to limit private users' access to high-risk chemicals in quantities sufficient to make home-made explosives. It will be prohibited to sell products containing chemical substances that exceed certain levels of concentration. Also, such chemical products in high concentrations will be sold only to buyers who can document a legitimate need to use them. For this, it is necessary to have a licence for purchasing the product in question.
Consumers will not need a licence, however, to purchase high concentrations of three chemical products commonly used as cleaning agents in swimming pools or as fertilisers, namely hydrogen peroxide, nitric acid and nitro-methane. Sellers will, however, be required to register all sales of these products. EU countries such as Germany, which already register sales but do not require a licence, will be able to keep their own systems.
The regulation highlights the need to report any suspicious transactions. “Some products, containing potential risk chemicals for which concentration thresholds cannot be set, will continue to be sold without any restriction. However, sales of these chemicals will be better controlled, as wholesalers and retailers will be required to report any 'suspicious transactions', e.g. if a customer were to buy a suspiciously large quantity”, the EP states. This kind of suspect transaction will be defined as any transaction for which there are valid reasons to believe that the substance is intended for the production of homemade explosives, for example if a consumer were to buy large and suspect quantities of a product for ordinary use. The rapporteur, Jan Mulder, alludes to the attacks in Oslo and Utoya committed by Anders Breivik in July 2011. He says that the law is not as such able to stop terrorists or criminals, or to guarantee 100% protection. It is certain, however, that, by restricting access to these products, it will be possible to prevent them falling into the wrong hands. (SP/transl.jl)