Area: Javna uprava
Competent authority: MNZ
EZU URL: .nan
Initiative ID: 224
Initiative accepted and completed: '2013-10-22'
Initiative classified in EZU: .nan
Initiative forwarded in response: '2013-10-04'
Initiative published: '2013-10-04'
Initiative submitted: '2013-10-03'
Response from the competent authority: 'Reply from the Ministry of the Interior, Directorate
  for Administrative Internal Affairs, Migration and Naturalisation: 1. The first
  petition concerns the application form for a licence/prior consent for the purchase
  of parts of arms or ammunition, which is prescribed in Article 24 of the Regulations
  for the Implementation of the Arms Act (Official Gazette of the Ministry of the
  Interior, No. The petitioner proposes that the aforementioned form be supplemented
  with more fields for ammunition, as an individual who holds a permit for the possession
  of weapons for several weapons has to fill in several forms in the case of the purchase
  of ammunition, thereby incurring unnecessary costs. It follows from the provisions
  of the Law on Weapons (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No 23/05 - UPB1
  and 85/09) that the circulation of weapons and ammunition is restricted. In the
  case of ammunition, this restriction implies that the acquisition of a certain type
  of ammunition is linked to the possession of the specific weapon for which the ammunition
  is used, the legality of the weapon, the type of weapon document issued for that
  weapon (weapon certificate, possession licence, etc.) and the legitimate reason
  for issuing the weapon document. Furthermore, account must be taken of the fact
  that a licence to possess a weapon is also issued for a weapon which is unsafe to
  use or is inoperable, but which does not have the status of an inoperative weapon
  within the meaning of the last paragraph of Article 3 of the Weapons Act. These
  criteria are also followed by the provision of Article 47 of the Weapons Act, according
  to which an individual may purchase ammunition for hunting, sporting or safety weapons
  on the basis of a weapon certificate for those weapons. However, an individual who
  does not have this type of weapon document for a weapon may be granted a licence
  to purchase ammunition by the administrative authority only in exceptional circumstances,
  i.e. if he or she holds another type of weapon document (possession licence, notification
  certificate, etc.) for a weapon that has been tested and stamped in accordance with
  the regulations on testing and stamping or marking of handguns and ammunition. We
  believe that the purchase of ammunition should be dealt with on an individual basis,
  with one application and one licence per type of ammunition, as ammunition is also
  considered to be a weapon under the Weapons Act. The application form for a licence
  to purchase ammunition is free of charge and is published on the e-portal in Word
  format so that the individual can use it directly. With regard to the application
  form for a licence to purchase ammunition, Article 24(3) of the Regulation on the
  implementation of the Arms Act provides that the administrative authority must also
  take into consideration an application which is not submitted on the prescribed
  form, provided that it is expressly marked as such and that it contains all the
  information required on the prescribed form. It follows from the above that an individual
  may apply for a licence to purchase several types of ammunition (multiple applications)
  in a single application, which is also in line with the provisions of the General
  Administrative Procedure Act. Similar considerations apply to ammunition purchase
  licences, since these licences are printed by the administrative units using a computer
  programme for keeping records of weapons licences issued. Moreover, a single licence
  authorising the purchase of several types of ammunition could result in much greater
  costs and time delays for the individual than if a separate licence were issued
  for each type of ammunition. This is particularly true when the individual does
  not purchase all types of ammunition from one dealer. However, in the case of sport
  shooters who hold a licence for the possession of different types of sporting weapons,
  we can agree with the petitioner that the computerised application form for the
  purchase of ammunition is ''unfriendly'' to them, since they have to enter their
  personal data several times in the forms in the case of the purchase of different
  types of ammunition - multiple applications. In the second petition, the petitioner
  proposes to amend Articles 8a and 12 of the Weapons Act (Official Gazette of the
  Republic of Slovenia, No 23/05 - UPB1 and 85/09), namely to abolish the competence
  to issue weapon certificates according to the individual''s place of residence.
  The petition states that many people work outside the administrative unit in which
  they have their registered place of residence and that coming to the competent administrative
  unit in person is an additional cost and an unnecessary waste of time for the applicant.
  The possibility of abolishing the competence to issue weapons documents according
  to the individual''s place of residence, as provided for in Articles 8a and 12 of
  the Weapons Act, has already been considered when the Weapons Act was amended in
  2004 and 2009, as it has been done in some other administrative areas (e.g. However,
  we have come to the conclusion that the very nature of weapons contradicts this,
  as weapons are dangerous objects that pose an immediate threat to human health and
  life, public order and national security. The latter is already clear from Article
  1 of the Weapons Act. The incidence of weapons in the commission of crimes is not
  only a problem of individual countries, but a problem of a larger dimension. This
  is confirmed, not least, by the Protocol on the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking
  in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, supplementing the United
  Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (Official Journal of the
  Republic of Slovenia No 48/04). All of the above is the reason why the circulation
  of arms is restricted. This restriction on the circulation of arms is reflected,
  inter alia, in the fact that the administrative authority may issue a weapons certificate
  only to an individual who fulfils the conditions laid down in Article 14 of the
  Arms Act. At the same time, Article 59 of that Act empowers the administrative authority
  to confiscate weapons and weapons documents ex officio if the holder of the weapon
  does not fulfil the prescribed conditions. It follows from the cited provisions
  that the abolition of the jurisdiction of domicile would weaken or make more difficult
  the control over the possession of weapons, which is contrary to the Slovenian legal
  order and the international agreements to which the Republic of Slovenia has acceded.
  In this connection, it cannot be disregarded that a person''s domicile is a relevant
  circumstance with regard to the storage and registration of weapons, and that the
  possession of weapons is a privilege and not a right.'
Text file: 224.txt
Title: Petition for amendment of the form - Application for authorisation/prior approval
  for the purchase of parts of arms or ammunition
URL: https://www.stopbirokraciji.gov.si/pobuda/?st=224
