European Firearms Pass
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The European Firearms Pass (EFP) is a locally issued firearms licence in a common format that allows citizens of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
(EU) to travel with one or more
firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...
(s) mentioned on the licence from one
member state A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization or of a federation or confederation. Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign state ...
to another. For certain purposes other documentation may be required, depending on the current states' laws and the reason for the movement; a transfer may be temporary (for a competition) or permanent (on a sale). An applicant for an EFP must already hold a licence from the member state in which he/she holds the firearm.


Functions

The EFP is required by and benefits: * hunters of
deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...
,
wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species i ...
,
game birds Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are often ...
and vermin carrying their firearm(s) into another EU member state * target shooters involved in international competitions in the EU * Dealers, sellers and importers of firearms across EU borders * Specialist collectors and
museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...
s The EFP extends the "Four Freedoms" to the EU's licensed sports shooters, gun collectors and dealers. The United Kingdom does not accept the EFP without an accompanying UK Visitors Pass which must be requested in advance. The UK Visitors pass is only valid for one year and an EFP does not allow the importation of firearms that are legal in the visitor's home country but prohibited in the UK (e.g. handguns, centerfire semi-automatic rifles).


EEC / EU Directives

The European Firearms Pass was first introduced in the
European Firearms Directive Directive (EU) 2021/555 is a legal act of the European Union which sets minimum standards regarding civilian firearms acquisition and possession that EU member states must implement into their national legal systems. It codified Council Directiv ...
of 1991. The amending directive 2008/51/EC was approved in May 2008 and member states' laws had to comply with it by 28 July 2010.Text of 2008/51/EC
/ref> *Clause 14 comments that: :"The European firearms pass functions in a satisfactory way on the whole and should be regarded as the main document needed by hunters and marksmen for the possession of a firearm during a journey to another Member State. Member States should not make the acceptance of the European firearms pass conditional upon the payment of any fee or charge." *Article 1 amends article 4 of the 1991 directive to: :"4. A “European firearms pass” shall be issued on request by the authorities of a Member State to a person lawfully entering into possession of and using a firearm. It shall be valid for a maximum period of five years, which may be extended, and shall contain the information set out in Annex II. It shall be non-transferable and shall record the firearm or firearms possessed and used by the holder of the pass. It must always be in the possession of the person using the firearm and any change in the possession or characteristics of the firearm, as well as the loss or theft thereof, shall be indicated on the pass."


See also

*
Air travel with firearms and ammunition Air travel with firearms and ammunition involves a number of laws, regulations and practices that travelers with firearms or ammunition must comply with and should be familiar with before travel. The main rules are set by the International Air Tran ...
*
European Union law European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union (EU). Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, the EU has developed the aim to "promote peace, its valu ...
* Gun politics in the United Kingdom * Overview of gun laws by nation


References

{{European Union topics European Union firearms laws