Proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime

In its resolution 53/111 of 9 December 1998, the United Nations' General Assembly (UNGA) decided to establish an open-ended intergovernmental ad-hoc committee charged with drawing up a Convention against transnational organised crime (UNTOC), supplemented by three Protocols covering the following areas:
- Prevention, suppression and punishment of trafficking in persons, especially women and children (Trafficking Protocol);
- Smuggling of migrants by land, air and sea (Smuggling Protocol) and
- Illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, their parts and components and ammunition (Firearms Protocol).

The first formal session of the ad-hoc committee took place in Vienna in January 1999. In 2000 the Council authorised the Commission to negotiate the UNTOC and 'United Nations Firearms Protocol' (UNFP) on behalf of the European Community in addition to the other Protocols.

The Commission actively participated in the UN negotiations in Vienna, in close cooperation with its Member States and non-EU G8 countries. Negotiations on the UNTOC were completed in July 2000 while finalisation of the Smuggling and Trafficking Protocols took until October 2000. The UNGA adopted these three instruments at its 55th session on 15 November 2000 and opened them for signature. Negotiations on the UNFP lasted half a year longer (until May 2001) and this instrument was adopted by the UNGA at its 55th session on 31 May 2001 and thereafter opened for signature.

On 12 December 2000, in Palermo, the European Community along with all EU Member States formally signed these three instruments. Authorisation to sign the UNFP was given by the Council in October 2001 and this instrument was formally signed by the European Community at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 16 January 2002.

The Union approved the conclusion of the UNTOC in April 2004, and the Smuggling and Trafficking Protocols in July 2006.

The conclusion of the UNFP was left for a later stage because it was considered that the Protocol comprised provisions requiring the adoption of new legislation and amendments to existing one. Those provisions would affect Union rules on record-keeping, marking of firearms, deactivation of firearms, requirements for export, import and transit licensing or authorisation systems, strengthening of controls at export points and brokering activities.

In 2005, the Commission published a Communication on measures for ensuring greater security of explosives, detonators, bomb-making equipment and firearms in the European Union. Directive 2008/51/EC amending Council Directive 91/477 ECC of 18 June 1991 on control of the acquisition and possession of weapons and Regulation (EU) n.258/2012 implementing art.10 of the UN Firearms Protocol and establishing export authorisation, and import and transit measures for firearms, their parts and components and ammunition represent the concrete follow-up to this Communication.

The UNFP entered into force on 3 July 2005. To date, 18 EU Member States have signed it and 16 Member States are contracting parties, which includes 12 Member States that have ratified (Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Portugal, Sweden and Finland) and four Member States that have acceded to it (Spain, Latvia, Netherlands and Romania).

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)154: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:154:FIN

ESO: Background information: Combating firearms trafficking: Commission proposes ratification of UN protocol and further action http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-combating-firearms-trafficking-commission-proposes-ratification-of-un-protocol-and-further-action/

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