Brussels, 10/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 10 June, ministers on the Justice and Home Affairs Council decided on a general negotiating position for the directive on firearms that will allow people who shoot as a sport and collectors of guns to own semi-automatic arms. The negotiating position also allows many exemptions.
The draft directive aiming to improve rules on the sale of firearms within the EU was prepared in a hurry by the European Commission in the wake of the terror attacks in Paris in November (see EUROPE 11433), but it was France that led the way in calling for widescale exemptions for people who shoot for sport, diplomatic sources explained to this newsletter.
In the general guidelines, sports gunmen will be allowed to own semi-automatic guns and chargers subject to restrictions. Gunmen will have to have had a prior medical examination of their physical and mental health. They will have to prove that they participate in competitions recognised by official national or international shooting organisations, explains the document drawn up after the meeting of the member states' permanent representatives (COREPER II) on 8 June. Sweden was also in favour of this derogation. Some member states objected in that 80% of semi-automatic firearms registered in Europe are owned by people who shoot for sport (see EUROPE 11552).
A 'grandfather' clause desired by Belgium and other countries will allow some arms currently owned by collectors to be exempt from the ban has been kept in place, explains another source. Originally, a number of member states (including Ireland, the United Kingdom and Spain) opposed this idea, we were told in May.
Finally, Switzerland (which gave its opinion under the Schengen Area rules) won its way because conscription is still in force in the country and many reservists have semi-automatic rifles at home, we are told. Military service is still in force in Finland, and a similar situation applies there too (see EUROPE 11549) so the country requested similar derogations to Switzerland.
Feeling that the general guidelines drastically undermine the European Commission's original proposals and depart too radically from the original objectives, Luxembourg opposed to this, as did Poland and the Czech Republic, but for opposite reasons, feeling that the agreement was too restrictive. Croatia, Spain, Romania and the United Kingdom wanted a strong line to be taken in the directive, but ended up joining the ranks of the member states backing the general approach.
A source at the European Commission welcomed the agreement reached with the Council, but regretted the large number of derogations added to the general guidelines, such as the way collators will be able to continue to own arms under certain conditions. The Commission feels that too much time will be allowed to transpose the directive (18 months after publication in the Official Journal, except for certain arrangements for which it will be 36 months).
The agreement kicks off interinstitutional dialogue with the European Parliament, which has not yet decided on its negotiating position on a report by Vicky Ford (CRE, United Kingdom). Several sources thought that the IMCO committee might deal with this on 14 July. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)