This recommendation was adopted at the session on 3 July 2002 on the basis of a report by Bertrand Raux.
Assisted by Odile Finkelstein and Patrick Mesnard, Committee technical advisers, in accordance with Article R.224-4 of the Consumption Code.

The Committee makes the following recommendations to the Public Authorities:

1. They should temporarily suspend the manufacture, import, possession for sale, sale, free distribution, or free availability or distribution for a fee of the CRESSI SUB SL brand of speargun as long as the instructions are not improved and completed with an essential technical data sheet

2. They should conduct an expertise of said speargun and of other similar weapons to make sure that the products do not present any risk for users in the reasonably foreseeable conditions of disassembling the different parts of the weapon

3. They should ensure that manufacturers and dealers comply with the regulations on weapons and, in any case, that all underwater speargun sales be sold only to authorised persons

4. A regulation should make it mandatory to post the muzzle energy expressed in joules on the box of this type of product and in the instructions; the manufacturers and dealers should make the relevant tests available to the administration

5.They should ask the Agence Française de Normalisation (AFNOR, French Standardisation Agency) to launch standardisation work to define the safety requirements said products should comply with
6. They should create an underwater fishing licence validating weapon handling, safety measures to comply with when fishing, and the knowledge of protected species

7. Until a fishing licence is set up, the FFESSM must offer its members a training programme on weapon handling and species protection.

In compliance with the precautionary principle, the Consumer Safety Committee will circulate a press release recommending that underwater speargun owners have their speargun disassembled by a professional until the safety of the weapons is officially guaranteed. The Committee will also warn parents of minors likely to own such weapons to exercise extreme caution.

For the complete text in English please open the attached file:
The recommendation can also be consulted in full in French on the CSC website: http://www.cscnet.org by using the key word ‘fusil’.