CAT.GEN.MPA.160 Carriage of sporting weapons and ammunition

SPORTING WEAPONS

(a)In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 300/2008 sporting weapons may be carried on board an aircraft, in a place that is not inaccessible, if the required security conditions in accordance with national laws have been fulfilled and authorisation has been given by the States involved.

(b)There is no internationally agreed definition of sporting weapons. In general, it may be any weapon that is not a weapon of war or munitions of war. Sporting weapons include hunting knives, bows and other similar articles. An antique weapon, which at one time may have been a weapon of war or munitions of war, such as a musket, may now be regarded as a sporting weapon.

(c)A firearm is any gun, rifle or pistol that fires a projectile.

(d)The following firearms are generally regarded as being sporting weapons:

(1)those designed for shooting game, birds and other animals;

(2)those used for target shooting, clay-pigeon shooting and competition shooting, providing the weapons are not those on standard issue to military forces; and

(3)airguns, dart guns, starting pistols, etc.

(e)A firearm, which is not a weapon of war or munitions of war, should be treated as a sporting weapon for the purposes of its carriage on an aircraft.