The directive 2008/51/EC, instructs all European Member States to establish a electronic system being able to track the life cycle of a firearm: Member States shall, by 31 December 2014, ensure the establishment and maintenance of a computerised datafiling system, either a centralised system or a decentralised system which guarantees to authorised authorities access to the data-filing systems in which each firearm subject to this Directive shall be recorded.   This filing system shall record and maintain for not less than 20 years each firearm's 

• type, 
• make, 
• model,  
• calibre and serial number, 
• as well as the names and addresses of the supplier and
• the person acquiring or possessing the firearm.

The national register of firearms in Germany is intended to be operational at the beginning of 2013. The XWaffe project analyses existing standards and data sets in order to create an interoperable data exchange standard that will serve to 

• Submit data about persons, permits, and firearms from local authorities to the central registry 
• Make queries, exports and statistics for agencies from the internal security domain

The definition of the standard "XWaffe" takes into account

• Requirements stemming from federal and local authorities (Waffenbehörde, Testing house (Beschussamt), federal police office, etc...)
• Requirements stemming from industries and associations
• Production chain, Naming and Design Rules and other rule sets applied standards that meet the XÖV criteria defined by the initiative Deutschland Online Standardisierung

Expectations: Defining a binding semantic data exchange standard between local authorities and the national registry of firearms Harmonising heterogeneous codelists linked to firearms in the domain of internal security (list of calibres, producers and importers of fire arms, others) Enabling electronic business processes between local and federal government, industry and citizens in order to fulfil the requirements of the European Directive 2008/51/EC

Nature of documentation: Other