The European Commission announced on Thursday 25 July that it has sent reasoned opinions to no fewer than 20 Member States to transpose the provisions of the Firearms Directive (Directive 2017/853) into national law.
The Directive, adopted in 2017 after much debate, aims to better regulate the sale and possession of firearms, including semi-automatic and deactivated weapons, and also to better control weapons held by collectors and sports shooters.
Under the provisions of the Directive, Member States had to notify the Commission of the transposition measures by 14 September 2018 at the latest.
However, Belgium, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic (the latter two countries had voted against the text - see EUROPE B11774B26), Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Sweden only partially notified their transposition.
Germany, Cyprus, Spain, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg (which also voted against the text because of its lack of ambition), the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia and did not notify any measures, according to the European Commission.
The Member States concerned now have two months to notify the Commission of the measures taken. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)