Harmonization of Small Arms Light Weapons Legislation in Kosovo1

Within EU council decision (CFSP) 2018/1788 in SEESAC support to the implementation of the Regional Roadmap on combating illicit arms trafficking in the Western Balkans, SEESAC provides continuous support to Western Balkan jurisdictions in legislative standardization and harmonization by providing on-demand advisory support and trough organization of thematic workshops on arms laws, regulations and criminal codes at both regional and national level;

On 21-22 March 2022 SEESAC supported the gathering of the Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Commission from Kosovo to work on the harmonization of the existing national legislation on SALW with the relevant EU regulatory framework in this specific area.

The SALW commission specifically focused on the table of concordances provided by SEESAC regarding the EU Firearms Directive 555/2021, Regulation 258/2012, Deactivation Regulation 2015/2043 as amended by 2018/337, and EU implementing directives 2019/68 and 69.

The analysis of the relevant legislation resulted in the development of the amendments to the existent Law on weapons.

The group re-assembled on 28 and 29 March 2022 during the second meeting aimed to further discuss and address the problems that occurred during the implementation of the existing law and to continue working on the harmonization of the law on weapons with the EU acquis and international practice. The main goal was to finalize drafted amendments to the Law on weapons that will later be proposed to relevant government bodies for adoption.