COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE

The UK’s shooting organisations came together to respond to a threat to the continued use of lead shot in the European Union. 

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the EU’s regulatory authority on chemicals, commissioned a study on the use of lead shot which it says could be used to evaluate the costs and benefits of restrictions on the use of lead shot for hunting across the EU.

Lead shot is widely used for shooting in the UK but is prohibited for use over wetlands in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In England and Wales lead shot is prohibited for the shooting of wildfowl and may not be used on the foreshore and certain designated wetland sites.

The ECHA asked for data on the manufacture, cost and use of lead shot and alternatives. Europe-wide responses will be collated by the European umbrella organisation FACE, the Federation of European Hunting Associations, which represents some seven million hunters, in conjunction with international representative bodies for trade and target shooting.

The UK’s shooting, trade and countryside management organisations are working together via FACE UK to collect and submit information to the ECHA via FACE.  The ECHA study was commissioned after the European Commission and member states asked Sweden to include lead shot in proposals to restrict the use of lead and lead compounds.

Below can be found a link to the prepared response to this survey. To lobby your MEP on this issue, click here.

FACE UK submission to FACE AMEC Lead Survey Annex 2