Marking, Tracing and Registration of Firearms Activities
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Marking, Tracing and Registration of Firearms Activities
Most South Eastern and Eastern European countries contain in their legislation references to marking and tracing of weapons. All have acceded to the relevant international instruments in that area: the UN Firearms Protocol, the International Tracing Instrument and the UN Programme of Action on SALW. Many have also undertaken the harmonization of their legislation with the Council Directive 91/477/EEC on the control of the acquisition and possession of weapons. The current challenge for the SEE countries is the implementation of their legal and political commitments in the area of marking and tracing of firearms. The main difficulties are in the field of marking of imported weapons, the ballistic tracing, the development of effective weapons registration and record-keeping systems, and the participation in information exchange mechanisms.
SEESAC has engaged with several governments in the region on projects providing for the equipment and technical expertise necessary for overcoming these difficulties. In September 2010, SEESAC organized in Belgrade a Regional Seminar on Marking and Tracing of Firearms, while in the summer of 2011 it completed its assistance efforts, to the Ministries of Interior of both the Republic of Montenegro and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, establishing and upgrading their respective weapons registrations systems.
These SEESAC activities were funded by the European Union (EU) as activities conducted under the EU COUNCIL DECISION 2010/179/CFSP, dated 11 March 2010, expressing support of SEESAC arms control activities in the Western Balkans, in the framework of the EU Strategy to combat the illicit accumulation and trafficking of SALW and their ammunition.
