The Court of Justice of the European Union has delivered its judgment in Case C-353/22, Commission v Sweden (Control of the acquisition and possession of weapons), finding that Sweden failed to properly transpose Directive 2017/853 in a timely manner.
The EU legislature has several times updated and amended the law governing firearms, including measures on the control of their acquisition and possession. It began with Directive 91/477, and is seen most recently in what is now Directive 2021/555 (codification), but at the time of this case of Commission v Sweden (Commission v Sweden (Control of the acquisition and possession of weapons) was Directive 2017/853.
With the updating of what shall be called the Firearms Directive undergoing several changes over time, it requires on each occasion for the Member States to individually update their national laws to take account of the new measures.
It is apparent from the judgment at hand, Case C-353/22, Commission v Sweden (Control of the acquisition and possession of weapons), delivered on 10 November 2023, that the Commission engaged in lengthy back-and-forth with Sweden over its very delayed response to implementing the directive, notwithstanding that the deadline for transposing all the necessary measures had long passed.
The Court held that the finding of non-implementation is to be applied from the send of the time-limit set out in the Commission’s reasoned opinion, and not at the time the case goes to the Court, if the Commission forwards the case onto the Court under the Article 258 TFEU procedure. As a result, Sweden was found to have failed to fulfil its obligations under the Firearms Directive, and following the Commission’s plea that a fine be applied under Article 260(3) TFEU, was fined 99m SEK (€8.5m).
The judgment of the Court in Case C-353/22, Commission v Sweden (Control of the acquisition and possession of weapons) can be read here.