Explosives precursors

Key points:

The EESC:

• welcomes the proposed Regulation. It builds on and replaces the existing Regulation, on which the EESC commented in January 2011, and tries to learn from experiences at national and EU level since it came into force in 2013 and into (intended) full effect by September 2014;
• notes a number of areas where greater clarity on the scope and implementation of the Regulation should be considered; these will also need to be discussed in greater detail with Member States in the months ahead;
• questions the effectiveness of grouping such widely disparate substances under a single regulatory regime. This makes the legislation hard to draft and even harder to implement or comprehend as a professional user or member of the general public. A different substance-specific approach is therefore recommended. EU legislation in respect of drug precursors provides a useful model for this.

For more information please contact the INT Section Secretariat.