The Draft Act brings the Weapons Act, the Test Firing Act, etc. in line with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2403 of 15 December 2015 establishing common guidelines on deactivation standards and techniques for ensuring that deactivated firearms are rendered irreversibly inoperable.

In the Weapons Act, the definition of deactivated firearms is replaced by a reference to the above-mentioned Implementing Regulation. A power to issue statutory instruments is also included to allow the Federal Ministry of the Interior to lay down provisions in particular in relation to qualifications for decommissioning, documentation and communications, firearms deactivated under previous standards and the handling of deactivated firearms.

The Test Firing Act incorporates provisions whereby deactivated weapons must be submitted to a proof house for testing and the proof house labels the tested weapon and issues a deactivation certificate. It also includes the power to issue statutory instruments that allows the Federal Ministry of the Interior to enact implementing arrangements for the technical deactivation provisions and to regulate details on labelling and on deactivation certificates.