EU lead shot ban moves to adoption with seven-year transition

The European Union’s restriction on lead shot is moving towards final adoption with a seven-year transition secured, the European hunters’ federation FACE reported on 8 October. Publication in the EU’s Official Journal is expected in the coming weeks, which would start the clock on the longest lead transition agreed anywhere in Europe.

What has FACE secured in the final text?

According to FACE, which has lobbied on the dossier for years on behalf of Europe’s seven million hunters, the restriction as it moves to adoption carries a seven-year transition for lead shot and excludes bullets and slugs from the ban entirely. That is a materially softer landing than earlier drafts, which had proposed shorter transitions and a wider scope taking in rifle ammunition.

The dossier has been years in the making. The European Chemicals Agency first proposed restricting lead in outdoor shooting under EU REACH in 2021, and the EU has already banned lead shot over and around wetlands since February 2023, a rule that caught out travelling Guns with its 100m buffer zones. The restriction now moving to adoption is the far larger second step, covering terrestrial shooting with lead shot across all 27 of the EU’s member states.

How does it compare with the rules in Great Britain?

Shooters here are already on a faster track. The UK REACH restriction became law on 1 April 2026, following a Health and Safety Executive report in December 2024: shot containing 1% or more lead is banned from 1 April 2029 after a three-year transition, and projectiles with 3% or more lead face restrictions at outdoor ranges from 1 April 2028 unless specific conditions are met. The measures apply in England, Scotland and Wales, and bring Scotland’s remaining lead wildfowling allowance into line with the rest of Great Britain; Northern Ireland, which follows EU REACH under the Windsor Framework, will instead feel the EU timetable now taking shape.

The practical consequence for the trade is two ammunition markets running on two clocks: cartridge makers supplying both Great Britain and the EU will meet the GB deadline first, with the EU’s seven years running well into the 2030s.

What happens next?

Once the restriction is published in the Official Journal it enters into force across the EU, and the transition period begins. Shooting Times will report the final text when it is published; the full detail of the adoption process is on FACE’s news pages.