Part 6: Firearms and pyrotechnic articles Section 132: Applications under the Firearms Acts: fees
The Firearms Acts contain a number of powers to charge fees. For example, section 32 of the 1968 Act sets out the fees payable for the grant, renewal or replacement of a firearms or shot gun certificate, and paragraph 3 of the Schedule to the 1988 Act provides for specified fees to be paid on the grant, renewal or extension of a licence issued under that Schedule to a museum to exempt it from certain provisions of the 1968 Act. There is currently no provision to charge a fee for the grant of an authorisation under section 5 of the 1968 Act for the possession of prohibited weapons and ammunition and there is no explicit power to charge different fees for different categories of applicant for a licence under the Schedule to the 1988 Act.
	Subsection (1) inserts new section 32ZA into the 1968 Act to provide a power to require payment of fees for the grant, variation or renewal of an authority under section 5 of the 1968 Act, and to specify the level of any such fees. A section 5 authorisation allows the holder to possess prohibited weapons as defined under that section. New section 32ZA(3) allows for the regulations to make different provision for different cases which would, for example, allow different fees to be set in respect of applications made by firearms dealers, transportation companies involved in the carriage of prohibited weapons and private maritime security companies in accordance with the differential costs of considering such applications. The regulation-making power is subject to the negative resolution procedure (new section 32ZA(6)).
	Section 15(6) of the 1988 Act sets out the fee to be paid (currently £84) on the grant or renewal of an approval for an approved rifle or muzzle-loading pistol club. Subsection (5) repeals section 15(6) of the 1988 Act. In its place, subsection (2) inserts a new section 15B of the 1988 Act which confers a new power to require and set fees for the grant, renewal or variation of an approval for an approved rifle or muzzle-loading pistol club. Unlike section 15(6) of the 1988 Act, the replacement regulation-making power (which is subject to the negative resolution procedure - see new section 15B(6)) enables the Secretary of State to set differential fees, for example, so that higher fees could be charged in respect of larger shooting clubs.
	Subsection (3) repeals existing paragraph 3 of the Schedule to the 1988 Act. That paragraph provides for a maximum fee of £200 for the grant or renewal of a museum firearms licence exempting the museum from certain provisions of the 1968 Act, for example the requirement to hold a firearms or shot gun certificate or an authorisation under section 5 of the 1968 Act in respect of prohibited weapons; paragraph 3 also currently provides for a fee of £75 for the extension of a licence to additional premises. Subsection (4) inserts new paragraph 3A into the Schedule to the 1988 Act, which is structured on the same basis as new section 32ZA of the 1968 Act and new section 15B of the 1988 Act so that the Secretary of State's regulation-making power enables differential fees to be set so that, for example, museums with larger firearms collections may pay a higher fee. The regulation-making power is subject to the negative resolution procedure (new paragraph 3A(6)).