Author: Matt Furey-King

A message from Joachim Dekkers, President of our parent organisation, the European Airsoft Association;

Dear Airsoftsport enthusiasts,

As you know on July 13^th there was an important vote on the Firearm Directive proposal 91/477, which also included Airsoft Devices (for example replicas and blank firing grenades).

The part of the vote which actually dealt with our beloved sport, took approximately 1 minute. It was fast and hectic to say the least.

The result of the vote was in favor of the Airsoftsport, because a large majority of the IMCO Committee members, voted to have replicas placed outside the scope of the directive.

Still, it took us some time to actually confirm this, because the documents released on the vote are difficult to understand.

This result is a small victory but we are not there yet. More negotiations will follow after the EU Parliament recess (ends August 21^st).

I know that many of you have been asking about the blank firing grenades. We are working on this and will give you an answer as soon as possible. Please be patient due to the holiday season and the much needed rest.

We were not able to have achieved this, if it was not for others too. The industry (http://www.airsoft-european-call.com/) who came together for this united cause, the IMCO Committee members who voted against having replicas placed inside the scope, colleagues from other sport shooting organizations and individual players.

I was in touch with Vicky Ford who is the chair of the IMCO committee and I thanked her and her team on behalf of the Airsoftsport community for the common sense and hard work. She send me an open letter for the Airsoftsport community;

Open Letter on the European Firearms Directive

Dear Reader

Following July’s vote in the European Parliament IMCO committee I have been asked to provide further clarification regarding airsoft.

The first draft of Commission’s text was extremely poorly worded.  It would have unintended consequences for many different legal owners, including those involved in legitimate activities such as historical re-enactments, training, parades and sporting events  as well as Airsoft.

Over 800 amendments were tabled by Members of the European Parliament including many by myself.  I have led a series of negotiations to try to resolve as many issues as possible.  Where MEPs had differing views these were put to a vote in order to ascertain the majority. 

There was a very large amount of support amongst MEPs for maintaining the current position for Airsoft.  The parliament committee voted to reject the European Commission suggestions for replicas and instead recommends that objects that cannot be converted to firearms, and do not share an essential competent with a firearm, should not be included in the scope of the directive.

The parliament’s  amendments make it clear that a ‘firearm’ shall not include items designed ”to only be capable of expelling a shot, bullet or projectile by the action of compressed air or other gas not generated by the action of a combusted propellant, or are designed as airsoft devices or airgun devices of any description from which only a small missile with limited energy can be discharged, provided that they can be used for the stated purpose only and are not capable of being converted in such a way as to render them capable of expelling a shot, bullet or projectile by the action of a combusted propellant;”

This first vote of the European Parliament committee is not a final decision.  The next stage is to enter into negotiations with the European Council (which includes the representatives from the 28 different EU member countries) and the European Commission so called “trialogue” discussions.  During the trialogue discussion it is often the case that further clarification or technical adjustments can be made. 

I am very grateful to the many stakeholder groups and shooting organisations who have given expert guidance including the European Airsoft Association.

Vicky Ford MEP

You can imagine for all of us this has been a long and tiring road which is still not over yet. The proposal will keep us busy until the end of 2016, as a parliament vote is scheduled for November 22^nd.

My request to the entire community is to be proud of our beloved sport. Don’t be afraid to mention that you are an Airsoftsport enthusiast and above all, keep raising positive awareness wherever you go.

Together with all people involved we will continue to do our utmost best, to make sure the core values of the Airsoftsport are not hurt.

Kind regards,

Joachim

President

European Airsoft Association

On Wednesday the 13th July the IMCO committee will vote on the proposal 2015/0269 to amend the European firearms directive. Allot of work has been done by airsoft players, the airsoft industry and airsoft groups to get the proposal changed, notably by the European Airsoft Association (EAA, which UKAPU is a core member of). The first draft of the proposal would have stamped out airsoft in Europe by classing all replicas as firearms. The amendments that we have helped write will be voted on during Wednesday’s meeting, and should serve to delete the sections about classifying of replicas as firearms. The airsoft community did a great job of lobbying and showing airsoft in a positive light, so the amendments have been well received and we are heading towards a win on Wednesday. We also hope BFGs aren’t banned (EAA did what they could to stop that too) but that remains to be seen.

In November there will be a yes/no vote on accepting the finalised proposal. We can’t relax until then but if things go our way on Wednesday we will almost be out of the woods. Live shooting sports are still in danger of being devastated, quite intentionally, and there’s still very little focus on the weapons used by criminals and terrorists.

It wouldn’t hurt if everyone sent a last minute email to their MEPs asking them to vote in favour of the rapporteurs amendments to remove airsoft and replicas from the scope of the proposal.

https://www.mysociety.org/wehelpyou/contact-your-meps/

Courtesy of the EAA here are links to the Agenda and live feed for the meeting.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&reference=IMCO-OJ-20160713-1&format=XML&language=EN&secondRef=02

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/nl/committees/video?event=20160713-1500-COMMITTEE-IMCO

Fingers crossed!

Kind Regards,
Matt Furey-King, Chair UK Airsoft Players Union- UKAPU

As you may have heard(!), the UK has voted to leave the EU. What will this mean for airsoft?

First of all, let us look at the EU firearms directive and proposal to amend the directive 2015/0269-

The first draft of proposal 2015/0269 seeks the reclassification of all replicas as firearms, which would result in a nigh on a blanket ban of airsoft in the EU. Due to this unprecedented Brexit situation, we don’t know if EU directives enacted during our succession from the EU will legally have to be enacted into UK law, and it’s certain that the amended firearms directive will come into force before we become independent. We’ve consulted with the Home Office and UK MEPs and even they don’t know for sure. Depending on what arrangements Westminster comes to with Brussels, we could even be subject to the EU firearms directive post-Brexit like Switzerland is. I hope not, for the sake of our comrades in the live shooting, but who knows. Live shooters and de-act owners are facing some devastating restrictions unless the proposal is changed drastically. Thanks to the protests and lobbying done by the administration and members of the EAA (including UKAPU), not to mention the airsoft industry and many thousands of players Europe-wide (with the support of superb MEPs such as Daniel Dalton and Vicky Ford), the status quo is set to be retained, airsoft replicas are on course to remain outside the scope of the directive. UK players should be proud of the part that they have played so far in reversing this situation. We really halted the airsoft apocalypse, which I’ve no doubt would have bled over to other continents before long.

So anyway, UKAPU and anyone involved in UK airsoft can’t suddenly just ignore what’s going on with the changes to the EU firearms directive, but assuming that next months’ vote goes well and our amendments are approved, airsoft will carry on as normal even if the new directive is applied in the UK.

Policing and Crime Bill 2015/16-

Not much change here, except that with the apparent implosion of both the UK’s main political parties it may become more tricky to bring attention to our, comparatively, fringe issues (update- true enough, the next PCB reading has been postponed to accommodate a debate on Europe). No additional changes to airsoft laws in Scotland or Northern Ireland either.

Travelling Abroad for Games-

As airsoft and replicas are regulated by national laws, and most of those laws are different in each state, there won’t be any change to the way you transport replicas in and out of European countries. It seems likely that we will reach a reciprocal arrangement with Brussels and UK citizens will not require a visa to visit the EU.

Importing Airsoft Goods (updated based on advice from UKARA)-

Within the EU, if you order goods from airsoft shops in other EU countries,you simply pay local VAT of the country you ordered from (which may be less or more than UK VAT).

If the UK is outside of the EU with no trade agreement, if you order from an EU country you will not pay the local VAT but UK customs will add (currently) 20% UK VAT and approximately 3.5% duty.

Potentially if the UK is outside of the EU with a trade agreement, if you order from an EU country you will likely not pay the local VAT but UK customs will add (currently) 20% UK VAT and possibly you won’t need to pay 3.5% duty.

Another effect of the leave vote is the weakening of the Pound, so goods sold in foreign currency will cost more in GBP than the did pre referendum. Fingers crossed, this is a short term effect.

Buying from UK Airsoft Retailers (updated)-

UK retailers barely sell any UK manufactured airsoft items, nearly everything they sell is imported, so the weak pound has increased the cost of wholesale goods coming to the UK. Almost certainly the retailers will need to pass those increased costs on to the customer, but again, hopefully the weak pound is a short term problem.

European Airsoft Association-

The UKAPU committee has decided that UKAPU is 100% committed to remaining as members of the EAA. The primary reason we created the EAA was to counteract anti-airsoft EU legislation, which might not be a problem for the UK in the future. However, there’re many other good reasons to work closely with our cousins in other European associations, so this relationship is something we want to maintain. EAA membership is in fact available to all countries geographically in Europe, not just EU countries. After all, even though we’ve decided to leave the EU political block, us Brits are still Europeans culturally and geographically. Airsoft players are airsoft players, it’s a condition which transcends politics and borders.

Please share this post so we can inform as many players as possible.

Matt Furey-King,

Chair UK Airsoft Players Union- UKAPU