Citation(s) from the GunPolicy.org literature library
European Parliament. 2021 ‘Article 15.’ Directive (EU) 2021/555 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 March 2021 on control of the acquisition and possession of weapons (codification); Chapter 2. Brussels: European Union. 24 March
Relevant contents
Article 15
1. Member States shall make arrangements for the deactivation of firearms to be verified by a competent authority in
order to ensure that the modifications made to a firearm render all its essential components permanently inoperable and incapable of removal, replacement or modification in a manner that would permit the firearm to be reactivated in any way. Member States shall, in the context of that verification, provide for the issuance of a certificate and record attesting to the deactivation of the firearm and the apposition of a clearly visible mark to that effect on the firearm.
2. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts laying down deactivation standards and techniques to ensure that all essential components of a firearm are rendered permanently inoperable and incapable of removal, replacement or
modification in a manner that would permit the firearm to be reactivated in any way. Those implementing acts shall be
adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 20(2).
3. The implementing acts referred to in paragraph 2 shall not apply to firearms deactivated prior to the date of
application of those implementing acts, unless those firearms are transferred to another Member State or placed on the market subsequent to that date.
4. Member States may notify to the Commission within two months of 13 June 2017 the national deactivation
standards and techniques they applied before 8 April 2016, justifying the reasons for which the level of security ensured by those national deactivation standards and techniques is equivalent to that ensured by the technical specifications for deactivation of firearms set out in Annex I to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2403 (20) as applicable on 8 April 2016.
5. When Member States notify the Commission in accordance with paragraph 4, the Commission shall, at the latest
12 months after notification, adopt implementing acts deciding whether the national deactivation standards and
techniques thus notified ensured that firearms were deactivated with a level of security equivalent to that ensured by the technical specifications for deactivation of firearms set out in Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2403 as applicable on 8 April 2016. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 20(2).
6. Until the date of application of the implementing acts referred to in paragraph 5, any firearm deactivated in
accordance with the national deactivation standards and techniques applied before 8 April 2016 shall, when transferred to another Member State or placed on the market, comply with the technical specifications for deactivation of firearms set out in Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2403.
7. Firearms deactivated before 8 April 2016 in accordance with the national deactivation standards and techniques that
have been found to ensure a level of security equivalent to that ensured by the technical specifications for deactivation of firearms set out in Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2403, as applicable on 8 April 2016, shall be
considered to be deactivated firearms, including when they are transferred to another Member State or placed on the
market after the date of application of the implementing acts referred to in paragraph 5.