European Commission calls on IRELAND to fulfil the obligations on the marketing and use of explosives precursors (Regulation (EU) 2019/1148)

Regulation (EU) 2019/1148 establishes EU-wide rules regarding substances and mixtures that could be misused to make homemade explosives. It limits the availability of those substances or mixtures to the general public and requires any suspicious transactions involving the substances to be reported to the appropriate authorities. The Commission considers that Ireland failed to comply with a number of obligations under the Regulation, such as the obligations to lay down rules on penalties, designate the competent authority for the implementation of the Regulation or notify measures for the licencing regime. The Commission is therefore sending a letter of formal notice to Ireland, which now has two months to respond and address the shortcomings raised by the Commission. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.