WRITTEN QUESTION No. 4192/97 by Maria BERGER to the Council. Private ownership of weapons
C 196/98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 22. 6. 98 Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (1), the so-called environmental impact assessment (EIA) Directive, lists in its Annex II 3 b as activity átransmission of electrical energy by overhead cablesí. According to the EIA Directive such installations have to carry out an EIA if their impact on the environment is significant which has to be determined by the Member States for Annex II projects. If the Member State has determined (by setting thresholds or criteria on by a case by case examination) that such type of installation should carry out an EIA the effects on different environmental media as well as on human beings have to be identified, described and assessed. In this context, of course, health impacts might play in important factor in the impact assessment. In Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 amending Directive 85/337/EEC (2) which was adopted in 1997 and has to be implemented in the Member States by March 1999 at the latest, the construction of overhead electrical power lines with a voltage of 220 KV or more and a length of more than 15 km was moved from Annex II of the EIA Directive to Annex I. This means that for projects of this type an EIA will be obligatory as of March 1999. Given the information currently available, for the Commission there are no legal grounds to take action since it has not been notified of non-compliance with existing Community legislation. (1) OJ L 175, 5. 7. 1985. (2) OJ L 73, 14. 3. 1997. (98/C 196/137) WRITTEN QUESTION E-4192/97 by Maria Berger (PSE) to the Council (22 January 1998) Subject: Private ownership of weapons For some time now there has been a steadily growing number of reports of incidents in the various Member States involving gunmen running amok and causing many deaths. The victims are of very diverse origin, different kinds of weapon are used (although most of them are fairly readily available) and the perpetrators are of very varying types. Such incidents can probably only be prevented if the private ownership (and in particular the trade in, and the purchase of, weapons for personal use) is subject to uniformly strict EU-wide regulations and restrictions. In view of such incidents in the Member States, is the Commission intending to tighten up the EU directive on weapons? Answer (30 March 1998) As the Honourable Member will no doubt be aware, the acquisition and possession of weapons by private individuals is currently regulated by Directive 91/477/EEC of 18 June 1991 (OJ L 256 of 13 September 1991). Under the Directive, firearms are divided up into four categories: those which are prohibited, those subject to authorization, those subject to declaration and those which may be bought and sold without any restriction. Member States are also free to retain or introduce more stringent measures as they think fit. In fact, most of the Member States have either banned the purchase of firearms by individuals or made it subject to authorization. The Council has not so far received any Commission proposals for tightening up the law