Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council. Evaluation of Directive 2009/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 simplifying terms and conditions of transfers of defence-related products within the Community

Directive 2009/43/EC was adopted on 6 May 2009 and seeks to improve the functioning of the EU defence equipment market, promote integration of the EU defence supply chain and increase security of supply, by simplifying the rules and procedures for intra-EU transfers of defence-related products.

Under Article 17 of the Directive, the Commission must report to the Parliament and the Council on the review of the Directive’s implementation. If necessary, the report should be accompanied by a legislative proposal. To this end, the Commission has evaluated the Directive to establish whether, and to what extent, the Directive’s objectives have been met, including with regard to the functioning of the internal market. The Commission reviewed the application of all the Directive’s key provisions, including those on certification, export limitations, customs procedures, exchange of information and safeguard measures.

The Commission evaluated the Directive’s impact on the development of a European defence equipment market (EDEM) and the European defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB), including with regard to SMEs. The evaluation of the Directive is taking place only three years after the transposition deadline, which makes it difficult to assess whether the long-term objectives of the Directive have been achieved. Rather, the present evaluation focuses on the implementation of the Directive and whether it is on track to meet its set objectives.

To support its work, the Commission contracted an external study to analyse the Directive’s implementation and evaluate its functioning. The evaluation collected and analysed data from Member State competent authorities, defence companies, industry associations and other stakeholders. In order to mitigate the lack of available data and poor response in public consultation, a series of Europe-wide stakeholder workshops has been organised. All Member States and industry associations provided additional input and feedback on the preliminary findings. Proposed follow-up measures were discussed with the Committee on EU Transfers of Defence-related Products set up under the Directive, and with industry representatives.

This report presents the evaluation’s main findings and a proposal for the way forward. The report is accompanied by a staff working document setting out more detailed results of the evaluation.

EUR-Lex: SWD(2016)398: Evaluation of the Transfers Directive http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2016:398:FIN

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