On Thursday 9 November, the Court of Justice of the European Union fined Sweden €8.5 million, to be paid to the European Commission, for its late transposition of the amended Arms Directive.
The deadline for transposing the amendments into Swedish law expired on 14 September 2018, and on 26 July 2019 the Commission called on Stockholm to comply with the amended directive by 26 September 2019 at the latest.
In May 2022, the Commission asked the Court of Justice to declare that Sweden had failed to transpose these amendments into national law and to order it to pay pecuniary penalties. On 17 July 2023, the Commission informed the Court that Sweden had transposed the amendments in question into its national law on 1 July 2023.
Noting that Sweden, as Sweden itself admits, had not transposed the amended directive by 26 September 2019, the Court declared that Stockholm had failed to fulfil its obligation under the amended directive. According to the European judges, this is a serious failing, especially as the amended directive introduces stricter rules for the most dangerous firearms, whether semi-automatic or converted, and governs the rights and obligations of brokers and gunsmiths with regard to transactions involving suspect ammunition. The Court added that the seriousness of the breach has been increased by its potential impact on the objectives of public security and protection against cross-border crime. It also pointed out that the breach persisted for almost five years, i.e. from 14 September 2018 to 1 July 2023.
For these reasons, the Court set the pecuniary penalty at €8.5 million.
See the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/9hf (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)