EC Defence Equipment Directives

In December 2005 the European Commission published a number of recommendations for improving efficiency and competition in the EU defence market. The primary intention was to establish guidance on how EC Treaty exceptions and requirements under then Article 296 TEC (now Article 346, TFEU) should be interpreted with respect to defence procurement contracts. Specifically the Commission set out its intention to publish an Interpretative Communication on the application of Article 296, to be followed by a proposal for a legally-binding EU Directive on defence related procurement contracts. As part of these measures to open up the European defence market, the European Commission also published proposals in April 2006 on regulating the intra-Community transfer of defence products.

The Interpretative Communication was published in December 2006 while the draft Directives on intra-community transfers and defence procurement were published as part of a wider package of European defence equipment market measures in December 2007. Both Directives were subsequently adopted in May and July 2009 respectively.

The Directive on defence procurement contracts must be transposed into UK law by 21 August 2011; while the laws or regulations necessary to comply with the Directive on intra-community transfers must be transposed by 30 June 2011, with a view to applying its measures from 30 June 2012.