Arms Licensing (Amendment) Regulations, 2026

L.N. 77 of 2026

ARMS ACT

(CAP. 480)

Arms Licensing (Amendment) Regulations, 2026

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred by article 65 of the Arms

Act, the Minister responsible for the Police, after consultations with

the Weapons Board, has made the following regulations:-

(1) The title of these regulations is the Arms Licensing Citation and

(Amendment) Regulations, 2026 and these regulations shall be read scope.

and construed as one with the Arms Licensing Regulations, hereinafter S.L. 480.02.

referred to as the "principal regulations".

(2) The scope of these regulations is to better transpose the

provisions of Directive (EU) 2021/555 of the European Parliament and

of the Council of 24 March 2021 on control of the acquisition and

possession of weapons (codification).

Regulation 93 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

regulation 93 of

as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a) paragraph (a) of sub-regulation (2) thereof shall be

substituted by the following new paragraph

"(a) the type, make, model, calibre and serial

number of each firearm and the mark applied to its frame

or receiver as a unique marking in accordance with

regulation 7A(1) of the Firearms and Ammunition

(Movement in Member States and Other Matters)

Regulations, which shall serve as the unique identifier of

each firearm;";

(b)

sub-regulation (3) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new sub-regulation

"(3) The Commissioner shall ensure that the

personal data are deleted from the computerised data-

filing systems upon the expiry of the periods specified

in this regulation. This is without prejudice to cases in

which specific personal data has been transferred to a

national authority competent for the prevention,

investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal

offences or the execution of criminal punishments and

are used in that specific context, or to other national

authorities competent for a compatible purpose. In

those cases, the processing of such data shall be

regulated by the Data Protection Act and the Regulation

(EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural

persons with regard to the processing of personal data

and on the free movement of such data, and repealing

Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection

Regulation).";

(c) in sub-regulation (4) thereof the words "essential

components." shall be substituted by the words "essential

components:" and immediately thereafter there shall be added

the following new proviso

"Provided that dealers shall also report to the

Commissioner any suspicious transactions that were not

concluded due to their nature and scale.".

In regulation 96 of the principal regulations the words

"Schedule I, II or III" shall be substituted by the words "Schedule I, II

and III of the Act".

Immediately after regulation 97 of the principal regulations

there shall be added the following new regulation

98. (1) Without prejudice to more specific

provisions, wherever these apply, all licence holders in

accordance with these regulations, as well as persons in

possession of a hunting licence issued in accordance

with the Hunting Licences Regulations, shall allow

periodic inspections by authorised police officers to

ensure that firearms and ammunition subject to a

licence are locked safely, separately and unloaded. Such

officers shall also ensure that the other provisions of the

Act and these regulations, as applicable shall be

adhered to

Provided that owners of firearms and

essential components listed in Schedule I of the Act shall

ensure frequent scrutiny of their firearms, and that the

Police may carry out unannounced on-site inspections to

ensure that such firearms, essential components, and

their ammunition, are locked, safely, separately and

unloaded. During such inspections Police officers shall

also ensure that other provisions of the Act and, or these

regulations, including inter alia the requirement to keep

registers or inventories are adhered to.

(2) Holders of any Target Shooter licence and

any other licence issued in terms of these regulations, as

well as persons in possession of a hunting licence

issued in accordance with the Hunting Licences

Regulations, shall ensure that during transportation, they

store their firearms and ammunition as separately as

possible, and that their firearms are kept in a case or in a

compartment. Firearms and ammunition shall only be

transported to and from shooting ranges, firearm dealer

premises, gunsmith premises, other premises as

authorised by the Commissioner or locations where

hunting is permissible.

(3) Irrespective of the type of licence held, in

those cases where at least one hundred (100) firearms or

fifty thousand (50,000) rounds of ammunition are

transported simultaneously, such transport shall be

conducted under Police escort. Police escort shall also be

required where at least twenty (20) firearms or essential

components listed in Schedule I of the Act are being

transported. The owner of the items in question shall be

required to pay for such escort.".

€0.36