Requirements for weapons production

Activities related to the production, circulation, storage, and use of weapons, weapon accessories, ammunition, and their parts are licensed and strictly regulated in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Lithuania. Any legal entity intending to carry out such activities must meet the standards of reputation, security, traceability, and technical requirements, and carry out activities in accordance with a description agreed with the police.

The Description of Requirements for Accounting, Protection, and Control of Weapons, Weapon Accessories, and Ammunition, Their Parts, Approved by Order No. V-766/1V-551 of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania of 12 August 2025, applies to scientific research and experimental development activities when weapons, their attachments, or ammunition are being developed, but real parts are not yet used. It is valid at the stages of design, concept development, drawing, or model creation. If real parts are used, the Law on Control of Weapons and Ammunition already applies.

Businesses need to know that from the 4th stage of R&D, when the development and testing of the components of the future product begin, it is possible to contact the Expert Commission, which determines whether the product should be considered a weapon or ammunition, and if so, to which category it belongs. If the commission decides that it is not yet a weapon, the requirements do not apply to the activity. If it is recognized as a weapon or its parts, it is still necessary to follow the Law on the Control of Weapons and Ammunition and obtain all necessary licenses and permits. The following are the steps to start manufacturing weapons, their accessories, ammunition, and their parts:

The steps to begin manufacturing weapons, their accessories, ammunition, and their parts are described in more detail below:

Obtaining a license for licensed activities (Article 19 of the Law on Licensing):

• The company must create an account on the epolicija.lt website and submit a request to the Police Department.
• The request shall state:
• Company name, legal form, code, address, contacts.
• Name of the licensed activity.
• Names, surnames, codes of the controlling person, head of administration and employees.
• The police department verifies the impeccable reputation, the absence of threats to state security, and issues or refuses to issue a license within 30 days.

Obtaining a permit to store weapons for each facility where weapons will be stored (Article 21(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code)

Stage 1

1. An application is submitted to the Police Department via the website epolicija.lt. The following documents must be submitted with the application:

• Ownership/lease documents for weapons storage facilities.
• Conclusions of medical examinations of individuals and employees.
• If the person controlling the company, the head of administration or an employee are foreigners, additional certificates from foreign countries regarding their criminal record are provided.

2. The police agency shall verify whether the persons controlling the company, heads of administration, natural persons and employees meet the impeccable reputation established in the Law on Weapons, whether the company and natural persons do not pose a threat to state security, public order and public safety, and shall prepare a response no later than within 30 calendar days stating that the permit will be issued when the company installs premises for storing weapons or refuses to issue it.

Stage 2

1. An entity that has received a positive response from the police regarding the issuance of a permit to store weapons and has installed suitable premises for storing weapons shall submit a request for inspection of the installed premises, including a project for the installed alarm system, a plan of the premises (wall thicknesses), and an agreement with the security service (armed response).
2. The Police Commission must inspect the premises where the weapons will be stored no later than 10 working days from the date of receipt of all properly submitted documents.
3. Having determined that the premises meet the requirements for weapons storage facilities (LPGK 5-V-180), the police station issues a permit to store weapons no later than within 5 working days.

Requirements for premises and facilities where weapon attachments, weapons (the number of weapons stored at one time does not exceed 500), ammunition (the number of ammunition stored at one time will not exceed 1 million 500 thousand) are manufactured and stored:

• Standard requirements for weapons production facilities or storage facilities where weapons are stored are set out in LPGK Order No. 5-V-180, paragraphs 9-24.
• Alternatives to standard requirements:
• Economic entities possessing Category A or B weapons or their attachments may keep them in accordance with the requirements of Subsection 35.1 established for natural persons.
• Weapons may also be stored in the production facility if:
• windows and doors are protected by blinds on both sides,
• equipped with three-way signaling,
• Armed security responds to its activation within 5 minutes,
• There is a security panel in the production room.
• If it is impossible to comply with the standard requirements due to the specifics of Category A weapons, the company may apply to the Police Department for the establishment of special requirements. They are established within 30 calendar days.

Requirements for premises and facilities where weapons or ammunition are manufactured and stored, without limiting their quantity

Special requirements shall be established for facilities and premises where weapons and ammunition are manufactured (production volumes are not limited). They shall be established by the Police Department within 30 calendar days of receiving an application from an economic entity with the necessary data for establishing special requirements for the factory. When establishing special requirements for weapons and ammunition factories (production volumes are not limited), it must meet the following minimum requirements:

1. The entire factory area must be fenced. A burglar alarm system must be installed along the entire perimeter of the factory.
2. The factory must be protected by physical armed security or an armed security response must be provided no later than within 15 minutes.
3. A burglar alarm is installed.
4. equipped with a video surveillance system
5. equipped with an electronic access control system
6. Explosives (except up to 100 kg of gunpowder) are stored in a separate explosives storage facility in accordance with the requirements for the storage of explosives.
7. A factory security post has been installed with access control, video surveillance, and security alarm control functions.

General exception to the application of requirements other than those provided for in LPGK Order 5-V-180:

The entity may propose to allow production and trade to be carried out in premises that do not meet the standard requirements, if the same or better protection of weapons, weapon attachments, ammunition, and their parts is ensured by technical means other than those established in the standard requirements.

Weapons Production Description (Article 22(2) of the Weapons Act)

Before production, the entity must agree with the police on a description of the production accounting procedure. The description must describe:

• Traceability of objects, parts, and materials.
• Identification of responsible persons.
• Procedures for obtaining, storing, and using in production.
• Quality control.
• Registration, marking, and sale of products.
• Write-off and destruction of defective products.
• Registration of suppliers and buyers.

The police agency evaluates the description within 30 calendar days.

The legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania establish requirements when explosives are used in the production of weapons or ammunition

General requirements for the production of weapons, weapon accessories, ammunition, and their parts:

• A company wishing to manufacture weapons that use explosive materials must meet the following requirements set out in Lithuanian legislation, i.e., it must have:
• A license for the production of weapons, weapon accessories, ammunition, and their parts;
• Permission to possess weapons;
• The description of the accounting procedure for weapons, weapon accessories, ammunition, and their parts produced by the police should be coordinated with the police.
• If the planned production volumes are not limited, prepare an application with the necessary data to determine the special requirements of the factory. In this case, the police agency determines the special requirements for the security system of the factory territory and premises.

When a company has received a license to manufacture weapons, and there are no questions about the reputation of the company's owners, the company faces the question of how to obtain a permit to store weapons and how to coordinate with the police on the description of the accounting procedure for manufactured weapons, weapon accessories, ammunition, and their parts.

In this case, the police understand the situation as follows:

• Appropriate solutions must be selected to ensure the security of stored weapons - these include fences, doors, locks, alarms, etc.
• Appropriate solutions must be selected to ensure the safety of the work performed and the use of materials, i.e. when storing explosives for weapons production purposes or using these explosives directly in production processes. This would include calculating safe distances to various objects, infrastructure points, etc. and assessing the risk of possible damage.

Legislation related to the production of weapons, weapon accessories, ammunition, and their parts:

• The security requirements applicable to a place of weapons production or storage are set out below:
• In the requirements approved by the Order No. 5-V-180 of the Commissioner General of the Lithuanian Police of 3 March 2011 ( www.e-tar.lt )
• The safety requirements for weapons production are set out:
• By order of the Commissioner General of the Lithuanian Police of 28 September 2016 No. 5-V-775 ( hwww.e-tar.lt )
• By order of the Commissioner General of the Lithuanian Police of 23 December 2016 No. 5-V-1089 ( www.e-tar.lt )

The practical side of occupational safety and explosives storage:

When it comes to the practical side of explosives safety and storage, there are certain specifics. Possible distances (from the warehouse to residential premises, etc.), factors reducing the impact of the explosion and other matters related to the calculation of possible explosion damage are provided for in the aforementioned legal acts, which deal with the issuance of permits for the storage of explosives (the rules were approved by the Order of the State Security Council of 28 September 2016 No. 5-V-775) and which define the conditions for the production of explosives (the rules were approved by the Order of the State Security Council of 23 December 2016 No. 5-V-1089).

As an example, one could consider the case of storing 10 tons of explosives (TNT equivalent). The distances specified in the regulations to residential buildings are 500 m. and 200 m. (when the explosives warehouse is buried or protected by an embankment) correspond to calculations according to the formula (when Q ≤ 10,000 kg):

Without embankment R= 5√Q , if Q=10000 kg, R= 5x100=500 m

With embankment R= 2√Q , if Q=10000 kg, R= 2x100=200 m

On the one hand, the calculations seem simple, but on the other hand, there are some challenges with the calculations, since it is necessary to take into account the existing physical environmental factors. However, the aforementioned legal acts discuss various possible options for calculating the parameters of explosives storage, depending on what and how should be stored and what are the introductory conditions for the calculations, i.e., what is the area, what buildings or premises (what materials are used), what is the terrain, etc.

Additional legislation: