Study in view of a report evaluating the implementation of Regulation 258/2012 : final report : executive summary

Regulation 258/2012 (hereafter Regulation 258) aims at reducing the risk of illicit trafficking in firearms for civilian use, by establishing common rules and procedures for extra-EU export, import and transit of firearms, their parts and components, and ammunition. This strategic objective is pursued by: (i) harmonising national practices, (ii) ensuring improved tracing of international exchanges, (iii) ensuring exchange of information between National Competent Authorities, and (iv) allowing the smooth functioning of international trade of civilian firearms. Regulation 258 was adopted to meet the international requirements of Article 10 of the United Nations Firearms Protocol (UNFP), and to address market and security concerns created by the heterogeneous national practices that some Member States adopted to implement the UNFP. Regulation 258 is part of a set of EU initiatives on firearms, including the Firearms Directive (91/477/EC and its amendments) and the Common Position 2008/944/CFSP.1 This study aims to support the Commission in fulfilling the requirement to review the implementation of Regulation 258. To this end, the study assesses Regulation 258 against five evaluation criteria, analysing how its measures are relevant to EU security and market needs, effective (in terms of results and impacts), efficient (in terms of resources used to achieve these results), coherent with and complementary to other EU and international policies in the area, and demonstrate an EU added value when compared to what Member States could have achieved alone. The evaluation covers the years of implementation of Regulation 258 from September 2013 to mid-2016, investigating implementation measures adopted in each Member State.