Activity licence for civilian weapons and ammunition

A company that sells, makes, repairs or converts civilian weapons or ammunition in Estonia, stores them for others, or runs a paid shooting range needs an activity licence under the Weapons Act (relvaseadus)¹. The Police and Border Guard Board issues it for a fixed term⁷³⁵, and the act sets conditions for the company, its owners and managers, its responsible person and its premises.

Information as of 11 November 2026. Every numbered statement of this page was checked in the official text named below and re-checked by a second reviewer on 2026-11-11. The page is general information, not legal advice; the authority decides on every application.

What the activity is

The Weapons Act lists the activities with civilian weapons that need an activity licence (tegevusluba):¹

sale of a weapon, an essential part of a firearm, or ammunition;
manufacture of a weapon, an essential part of a firearm, or ammunition;
conversion and repair of weapons as a service;
use of a shooting range or shooting ground to provide a paid service;
rental of weapons at a shooting range or shooting ground as a service;
storage of weapons or ammunition as a service;
manufacture and conversion of gas sprays, air weapons, and alarm and signal weapons.

"Weapon" in the act is not only a firearm: it also covers gas, air, cold (bladed), throwing, electroshock, alarm and signal, acoustic and deactivated weapons.²

Not covered: the act does not apply, for example, to objects not designed or adapted as weapons, to firearms made before 1870 that cannot fire the ammunition the act names, to weapons deactivated with the EU deactivation document, or to household knives without the special features the act names.³ Local transport may be carried out by a holder of a weapons permit, an acquisition permit or an activity licence for manufacture or sale, under the act's conditions on packaging, vehicle and armed escort.⁴ Commercial handling of military weapons and military ammunition needs a separate licence under § 83³³ of the same act, decided by a commission formed at the Police and Border Guard Board (for ammunition storage and manufacture, by the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority through that commission).⁵

The legal act and the authority

The act is the Weapons Act (relvaseadus, RelvS), chapter 10 "Activity licence in fields of activity related to weapons and ammunition" (§§ 66–72). The General Part of the Economic Activities Code Act (majandustegevuse seadustiku üldosa seadus, MSÜS) also applies, with the exceptions the Weapons Act sets.⁶

The application is decided by the Police and Border Guard Board (Politsei- ja Piirivalveamet, PPA).⁷ Activity licences are entered in the Register of Economic Activities (majandustegevuse register, MTR), kept by the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority; the entry shows the issuing authority, the licence date and number, its legal basis and any term or secondary conditions.⁸

Who must apply

Any undertaking that carries on one of the activities in section 1 must hold the licence.¹ A licence issued in another EU member state does not replace it: the Estonian licence is required as well.⁹ Whether an exemption applies is specified for the client's situation; the act's general exclusions are described in section 1.³

Requirements for the applicant

The undertaking. The applicant must be an EU citizen with active legal capacity or a legal person established in an EU member state;¹⁰ the act treats EEA states and Switzerland in the same way.¹¹ It must be reliable, which means in particular that no prohibition on economic activity has been imposed on it.¹² Whether a minimum share capital applies is specified for the client's situation.

Owners and management. Every shareholder, supervisory or management board member and any other person with controlling influence must be a citizen of an EU or NATO member state.¹³ None of them may have been convicted of a crime against the state (with the exceptions the act names) or against humanity or international security, even if the record has been deleted; and there must be no reason to believe that any of them committed a crime against humanity or a war crime, belongs to a criminal or terrorist organisation, or is linked to terrorist financing or money laundering.¹⁴ § 67(2) adds a list of circumstances tied to issuing the licence with secondary conditions, covering, among others, fraud, money-laundering, tax, firearms and drug offences, and threats to Estonia's security.¹⁵

Responsible person. The undertaking must have a responsible person who meets §§ 38 and 39 of the act.¹⁶ The responsible person and the deputy must be EU citizens aged at least 21 with a valid weapons permit or weapons carry permit.¹⁷ The responsible person is appointed by a decision of the legal person, a structural unit in another administrative unit needs its own, and a copy of the decision goes to the PPA within three working days; the management board stays responsible.¹⁸ Everyone engaged in the manufacture, sale, repair or conversion of weapons and ammunition must hold a valid weapons permit.¹⁹

Premises. A legal person keeps weapons at the storage place it has designated.²⁰ More than eight firearms require a specially adapted room (armoury) or a weapons cabinet for nine or more firearms; detailed requirements for armouries, cabinets and sales premises are set by ministerial regulation.²¹ A shooting range or shooting ground must meet health protection, environmental protection and fire safety requirements.²²

Supervision and records. The PPA checks each licence holder's activity at least twice a year.²³ Holders of a licence for sale or for conversion and repair (§ 66(1) points 1 and 2) keep separate records of weapons, essential parts, restricted magazines, silencers, laser and night sights and ammunition; licence holders report manufacture and sale data to the register of service and civilian weapons through the X-tee data exchange layer within one working day.²⁴

AML/CFT. Whether anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) rules apply is specified for the client's situation. A seller may refuse a cartridge or ammunition-component transaction it reasonably considers suspicious and must report every such attempt to the PPA without delay.²⁵

Documents filed with the application

The application contains the general data required by the MSÜS: identification of the undertaking, its contact data, the field of activity and the signatory.²⁶ A company still being founded files its founding document instead of a registry code.²⁷ The Weapons Act adds:²⁸

Owners and boards: a list of shareholders holding more than 5% of the share capital and of the management and supervisory board members, with their identification data.
Responsible person: data on the responsible person and the deputy, and a certificate of the relevant examination.
Staff: a list of employees who handle weapons and ammunition.
Storage: the armoury's address, telephone number and means of guarding and protection, or a copy of the armoury lease for the term of the licence.
Shooting range only: a noise measurement report and a site plan with general views.²⁹

State fee and processing time

The state fee for reviewing an activity licence application in a field related to weapons and ammunition is EUR 365 (State Fees Act, riigilõivuseadus),³⁰ paid when the application is filed.³¹

Under the MSÜS, the authority decides within 30 days counted from the submission of all required data; it may suspend the time limit for up to 30 days while a shortcoming is remedied, and extend it once by up to 30 days.³² It may also request further information and set a reasonable time for it.³³ The rule that a licence is deemed granted when the authority does not decide in time does not apply to weapons licences.³⁴ These time limits are the law's, not a promise of when or how the authority will decide.

The licence is issued for one to five years, or for the duration of a temporary obligation or task shorter than one year.³⁵

What LexorCorp Global OÜ does and how to order

LexorCorp Global OÜ (registry code 12233761) offers the service "Activity licence application documentation": setting out the requirements of the act for the activity from its official text, the submission through the Register of Economic Activities, and the written follow-up of the authority's questions. LexorCorp prepares the application documents and manages the process; it does not give legal advice, audit or tax advice. The decision is the Police and Border Guard Board's; no licence, date or outcome is promised. The client pays the state fee.

The price for this field is given on request. Find "Civilian weapons" under "Weapons" in the guide Licensed activities in Estonia and use its "Request a price" button; the request reaches LexorCorp like any other enquiry and the reply comes by email.

Sources

Relvaseadus § 66 lg 1 p 1, 1¹, 2–6 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 11 p 1–9 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 2 lg 1 p 1, 2, 3, 6 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 57 lg 1, 3–5 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 83² lg 5; § 83³³ lg 1; § 83³⁵ lg 1 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 1 lg 1² — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 68 lg 1 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Majandustegevuse seadustiku üldosa seadus § 8 lg 1, 4; § 53 lg 1 — text in force from 01.09.2025
Relvaseadus § 66 lg 2 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 67 lg 1 p 1 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 2 lg 3 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 67 lg 1 p 1¹ — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 67 lg 1 p 1² — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 67 lg 1 p 2–4 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 67 lg 2 p 1–7 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 67 lg 1 p 5 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 38 lg 2 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 39 lg 1, 4 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 83¹ — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 46 lg 2 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 46 lg 4, 10; § 74 lg 3 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 67 lg 1 p 6 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 72 lg 1 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 75 lg 1, 4 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 74 lg 2¹ — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Majandustegevuse seadustiku üldosa seadus § 19 lg 2 p 1; § 15 lg 1 p 1–4, 7 — text in force from 01.09.2025
Majandustegevuse seadustiku üldosa seadus § 19 lg 4 — text in force from 01.09.2025
Relvaseadus § 68 lg 2 p 1–4 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 68 lg 3 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Riigilõivuseadus § 267 — text in force from 01.11.2026
Majandustegevuse seadustiku üldosa seadus § 19 lg 7 — text in force from 01.09.2025
Majandustegevuse seadustiku üldosa seadus § 20 lg 1–3 — text in force from 01.09.2025
Majandustegevuse seadustiku üldosa seadus § 19 lg 6 — text in force from 01.09.2025
Relvaseadus § 69 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)
Relvaseadus § 66 lg 3 — text in force from 01.10.2026 (RT I, 30.06.2026, 98)

Official sources

The laws this article names, each linked to its official text, as read on 9 October 2026. For the Estonian acts we read the English translation in Riigi Teataja; the legally binding text is the Estonian one.

State Fees Act — Riigi Teataja, English translation

Sources in the text are named without links; the official texts are linked under Official sources. To see which of our services your company needs, open the Business Navigator.

Activity licence for civilian weapons and ammunition in Estonia