The SIA account and the sport shooter's digital gun rack

Published on July 30, 2026 · 27 min read · Anthony Baillon

Verified by a gunsmith

The SIA account is compulsory for every firearm holder, and licensed sport shooters had to open theirs before 31 December 2024. Its digital gun rack lists your firearms and your administrative permits, but neither your remaining ammunition, nor your sessions, nor your licence expiry date.

31/12/2024 creation deadline for licensed shooters

5 days to confirm a purchase before automatic validation

6 months to correct your own rack after opening

The SIA account records the firearms held, the holder's identity, manufacturers and dealers, administrative permits and purchases at dealers; it ignores rounds fired, actual ammunition stock, reloaded ammunition, controlled sessions and the licence expiry date. — Five lines on the left, five on the right. The ones on the right are exactly the counters your compliance depends on. © Oplo

What the sport shooter's SIA account is for

The SIA, or Système d'information sur les armes — the firearms information system — is the "automated processing of personal data" the interior ministry devotes to firearms1. It was created by decree no. 2020-487 of 28 April 20201, rolled out from 8 February 2022 to "replace in time the current Agrippa application"10, then opened to sport shooters on 27 February 20247 10.

This personal account "gives you access to your digital gun rack, that is, to the inventory of the firearms you own"10. It is not a passive register: from a single space, the holder carries out several procedures.

consult and manage their digital gun rack, the inventory of their firearms10;
confirm or validate online the acquisition of a firearm3 4;
lodge a Category B authorization application, once the account is created3;
declare an inherited or found firearm they wish to keep11 19;
declare up to four secondary residences12;
report a change of address by uploading up-to-date proof2 5.

Behind the scenes, the SIA is not isolated. Article R312-87 authorizes it to consult automatically the FINIADA, the criminal record, the national file for checking the validity of documents, the Base Adresse Nationale and, "for the sole purpose of checking the validity of the information transmitted", the "processing system of the Fédération française de tir"1. That last channel is what links your shooting licence to the system, and the official SIA FAQ gives the practical version: "for shooters, the SIA and EDEN communicate to check the validity of the licence"12.

The data does not vanish quickly. Article R312-88, amended in 2024, sets its retention at thirty years from the destruction of the firearm1. To help find your way, the ministry publishes a user guide to the holders' space, an A5 booklet dated 202218; the account can also be created with help from a club, a sub-prefecture, a dealer or a France Services office6.

The SIA tracks firearms in the categories subject to control. If a firearm's A, B, C or D classification escapes you, we set it out in our guide to the firearm categories A, B, C and D. The account brings together in one place what was previously split between the prefecture and paper.

Creating your SIA account: documents and SIA number

Creation happens online, on the SIA's "Détenteurs" holders' space, at sia.detenteurs.interieur.gouv.fr6. It "requires internet access and an email address, together with documents in digital format, in particular to prove identity and address"13. Nothing else: no trip, no letter.

Three documents are enough to open the account, whatever the profile8 13: a valid identity document, front and back; proof of address less than three months old; your valid federal shooting licence8.

Procedure	Documents to prepare	Note
Creating your SIA account	Valid identity document, front and back; proof of address less than 3 months old; valid shooting licence	Same documents for every profile
Applying for Category B authorization	Birth certificate extract less than 3 months old; favorable FFTir opinion	A separate step, after the account is created

The account's documents are not the authorization's. The official factsheet F2250 lists a birth certificate extract less than three months old and a favorable FFTir opinion: those are the documents for a Category B authorization application, made "online" once the account is created3, not for opening the account. Confusing the two wastes time, and sends you hunting for documents that are not yet needed.

That leaves the word that causes most confusion: the SIA number. The official FAQ settles it bluntly: "The SIA number is the exchange key between the dealer and the holder for any transaction. The SIA account is an overall collection of information concerning the holder"12. The number is personal to you and "will follow you throughout your life as a firearm holder"10 13.

In practice, that number is the one you "give your dealer every time you go there to acquire a firearm"7. The UFA sums it up as "an exchange key so you can buy a firearm"14: it is transaction data, distinct from the online space where you manage your procedures.

A number is not an account. The distinction is not cosmetic: the SIA number identifies a person for a transaction, the SIA account is the space that centralizes their information and their procedures12. Holding a number given to a dealer therefore does not mean holding an active holder's account — and it is the account, not the number, that the creation deadline made compulsory.

What the SIA digital gun rack contains

The digital gun rack is the visible heart of the account: "the inventory of the firearms you own"10. From creation onward, the holder has direct access to it7. At every purchase from a dealer, "the firearm is transferred automatically to your digital gun rack"3 4: that is how it is normally fed.

Beyond the rack alone, article R312-85 sets out what the system records, in four families: the identity of holders, firearms and their components, manufacturers and dealers, and administrative permits and their dates1. The list is exhaustive: what is not in it is not there, and that is the whole point of the next section.

One point is worth making straight away: the initial rack is not an inventory that is already correct. Firearms already declared to the prefecture do not appear instantly — allow "about 15 days after opening" according to the Meuse prefecture8. And since the data comes from the old Agrippa file10, omissions and duplicates are common.

What the SIA digital gun rack does not see

This is the most useful limit to know. Since article R312-85 sets out the SIA's data exhaustively1, everything else escapes it. The system tracks only purchases from dealers and the inventory of firearms: neither actual ammunition stock, nor rounds fired, nor practice appear there.

The SIA account records	The SIA account ignores
The firearms you hold (the rack)	The number of rounds fired
The holder's identity	Actual remaining ammunition stock
Manufacturers and dealers	Ammunition fired at the club or reloaded
Administrative permits and their dates	Controlled shooting sessions
Purchases made at a dealer	Your licence expiry date

Two absences weigh more than the others. The SIA records ammunition purchases at a dealer, but not your actual stock: the ceiling of a thousand rounds per firearm rests entirely on your own accounting, as we explain in our article on firearm and ammunition quotas. And the three controlled shooting sessions that condition your authorization do not feed into the SIA: they belong to your shooting logbook and to the federation.

As for the expiry of your licence or your medical certificate, the SIA does not watch that either: it lives in the federation's EDEN system, which we come to below. The state's rack answers a single question — which firearms do you hold — and it sticks to it.

Correcting an error on your SIA rack

At opening, the rack is fed from the old Agrippa file10, and the UFA warns: the holder has "a period of 6 months to correct the information relating to [their] firearms entirely on [their] own"14. That six-month window is confirmed on the official side by the FFTir and by the SIA FAQ7 12. Past that window, correction goes back through the prefecture.

Here are the most frequent cases, and how to handle them in the holder's space.

a firearm is missing: you add it by entering its number in the Référentiel général des armes (RGA), the general firearms reference listing models, then its serial number8;
a firearm appears twice: you flag the duplicate by stating "I do not own or no longer own this firearm"8;
a firearm you sold is still listed: it stays on the rack as long as the transfer has not been recorded in the system; between private individuals, that goes through each party's SIA number14;
a purchase has not been confirmed: the transaction awaits your online validation, failing which it is validated automatically after five days3 4.

An inherited firearm is the exception: it does not appear on its own. The heir creates their account, adds the firearm, and a prefecture officer must then validate the declaration — the wait then depends on the workload of the services15. A firearm missing from the rack is therefore not always an error: sometimes it is simply waiting for a human to approve it.

Anthony Baillon Oplo co-founder

When I opened my account, I flinched: a rifle I had transferred two years earlier was still on the rack, and one pistol appeared twice. My first instinct was to believe myself in breach and go looking for someone to call, before I understood that this data came from Agrippa and that the transfer carries its errors along with it.

I had six months to correct it on my own, with no letter and no queue. The lesson I draw: at opening, the rack is a starting point to be checked line by line, not an inventory that is already correct. And I no longer confuse the SIA number my dealer had given me at my first purchase with the holder's account I had only just created.

The SIA account deadlines not to miss

There is not one creation deadline but several, depending on the profile. Shooters licensed with the FFTir had to create their account "before 31 December 2024"6, failing which they stand "in breach"6. The later waves — clay pigeon, skiing, biathlon, former licence holders — had until 5 January 2026, according to the Meuse and Loire prefectures8 9.

Profile	Creation deadline	Source
Sport shooter licensed with the FFTir	31 December 2024	FFTir
Clay pigeon, skiing, biathlon, former licence holder	5 January 2026	Meuse and Loire prefectures

Take care reading those dates: 2022 is the year the SIA was rolled out, for hunters first10. For shooters, access only opened on 27 February 20247, and in practice the obligation has only run since 1 January 2025, once the 31 December 2024 deadline had passed.

Once the account is open, two short deadlines set the rhythm of the first weeks.

The SIA account: the first deadlines, counted in days

Calendar days; the first runs from a purchase at a dealer, the second from the opening of the account

The five days are calendar days, with no mention of "working", given by two service-public factsheets3 4; the UFA speaks, less precisely, of "a few days"14. The "about 15 days" comes from a single prefecture, the Meuse8: an order of magnitude, not a national deadline you can rely on.

Voir les données

Deadline	Length	Starting point	Source
Confirming a purchase at a dealer	5 days	Transfer of the firearm to the rack	Factsheets F2250 and F2246
Already-declared firearms appearing	≈ 15 days	Opening of the account	Meuse prefecture

No Category B ammunition until the firearm is cleared. The rack governs cartridge purchases: until you have confirmed the firearm — what the SIA calls acquitter, clearing it — you cannot buy its ammunition22.

The consequence is paid at the counter. A firearm and its ammunition bought on the same day cannot be handled together: the firearm must be cleared first. So take something to check your email with while you are there, in store as in distance selling — otherwise you leave without your cartridges, and you will have to come back.

Then come deadlines counted in months: the correction window, open to everyone, and the deadlines specific to an inherited firearm, set out further down.

The SIA account deadlines counted in months

Correction window open to every holder, and the deadlines specific to a firearm inherited or found in Category A or B

The six-month window to correct your own rack is confirmed by the FFTir, the official FAQ and the UFA7 12 14. The three and twelve months are set by article R312-51 of the code de la sécurité intérieure, in force since 29 June 202421, and cover the Category A or B firearm inherited or found that you wish to keep; the Seine-Maritime prefecture restates them without citing the text11.

Voir les données

Deadline	Length	Who is concerned	Source
Lodging an inherited firearm you keep	3 months	Heir or finder of a Category A or B firearm	Article R312-51 of the code de la sécurité intérieure
Correcting your rack on your own	6 months	Every holder, after opening	FFTir, SIA FAQ, UFA
Obtaining authorization for an inherited firearm	12 months	Heir to a Category A or B firearm	Article R312-51 of the code de la sécurité intérieure

"About 15 days" is not a national rule. That waiting period for already-declared firearms to appear comes from a single prefecture, the Meuse8. The UFA merely advises waiting "several days"14, and no text sets it. Read it as an order of magnitude specific to one prefecture, never as a countdown you can rely on.

A change of address has no stated deadline — but it does have a penalty. Article R312-50 says only that the holder of a permit "informs of their change of address the prefect of the department in which the new home is located"2, by recording updated proof of address in their SIA account5. The "30-day deadline" you sometimes read has no basis in the texts. On the other hand, failing to report a move to another department carries a fine of €7505.

One last deadline goes beyond the account alone, but deserves flagging. The official FAQ reproduced by the Tarn prefecture states that you must "compulsorily request renewal at least three months before the end of validity of [the] authorization, the implicit refusal period being set at three months"12. In our file, it is the only open source to state this: we therefore give it with that reservation, and set it out in our guide to Category B authorization.

SIA, EDEN and ITAC: three separate systems

A good part of the confusion comes from here: the sport shooter juggles three systems that do not quite speak the same language. The link between them is nonetheless documented twice: article R312-87 authorizes the SIA to consult automatically the "processing system of the Fédération française de tir"1, and the official SIA FAQ describes the effect when the account is created — "for shooters, the SIA and EDEN communicate to check the validity of the licence. Once the licence is validated, the licence-holder profile is added to the account"12.

System	Run by	What it carries
SIA	Interior ministry	The firearms rack and authorization procedures
EDEN	FFTir, licence-holder side	The paperless shooting licence
ITAC	FFTir, club and league side	Internal management of clubs and leagues

According to the UFA, EDEN is the licence holder's paperless space, while ITAC is the tool of clubs, leagues and the federation16. A regional league sums up the division: EDEN is "a digital portal allowing members of the Fédération Française de Tir to obtain their paperless federal licence", the SIA "a portal of the Service Central des Armes et Explosifs […] of the Ministry of the Interior" for holders' procedures17.

The practical consequence is clear: your licence expiry date and your medical certificate are not in the SIA. The system checks that you hold a valid permit; it does not warn you when that permit expires. That watch remains yours, or that of the tool you choose to keep it.

SIA account: sale, gift or inheritance

Every movement of a firearm is reflected in the account, but not in the same way. On purchase from a dealer, the firearm "is transferred automatically to your digital gun rack"3; you must then confirm the purchase online, failing which "the purchase is validated automatically after 5 days"3 4. That deadline applies to Category B as to Category C4.

Between private individuals, the transfer goes through each party's SIA number14. As long as it has not been recorded, the transferred firearm can stay displayed on the seller's rack: that is why a firearm you sold sometimes lingers there, and why you should check your rack after every movement.

Inheritance and found firearms follow a slower clock, and one that is often misunderstood. The holder "must record each inherited or found firearm on their own rack"19; for one they wish to keep, "the Système d'Information sur les Armes (SIA) remains open"20, failing which they dispose of it at the gendarmerie or the police station20.

Then run the stated deadlines of article R312-51 of the code de la sécurité intérieure, in force since 29 June 202421, which the Seine-Maritime prefecture restates without citing the text11. They cover the Category A or B firearm the heir or finder wishes to keep.

the firearm kept "is lodged with a professional [...] authorized for the corresponding category [...] within three months of the declaration at the latest"; failing that, "the prefect shall order its disposal"21;
that same firearm kept opens a period "of twelve months from its declaration to meet the conditions necessary to obtain the authorization"; past that term without meeting them, the holder disposes of it or has it deactivated21;
the firearm you do not keep falls under article R312-51-1: disposal proceeds under the terms of article R312-74, "without having to declare them beforehand"21 — sell, destroy, or surrender the firearm to the state via CERFA form 11845*311.

Your prefecture's silence is not a dispensation. The three- and twelve-month deadlines are set by article R312-51 of the code de la sécurité intérieure21: they apply across the whole territory. The Bouches-du-Rhône and Pyrénées-Atlantiques prefectures mention only recording on the rack or disposal, without restating those periods19 20; Seine-Maritime sets them out in full11. That inequality of information is what makes an inherited firearm complicated to regularize — but it is the decree, not your prefecture, that sets the clock.

Julien Mercier Technical reviewer

I have seen it written, by serious pens, that you have thirty days to report a move. Article R312-50 says only that the holder "informs" the prefect, with no period in days at all. When a figure is not in the text, we do not add one to make things tidy: we write that it is not there, and we leave the reader to check with their prefecture. It is less satisfying than a clean countdown, but it is what the texts say.

What to remember about the SIA account

Account compulsory, rack to be checked, practice not tracked

The SIA account is compulsory, and the SIA number does not replace it. Licensed shooters had to open theirs before 31 December 2024, the later waves before 5 January 2026. The number, for its part, follows you for life and serves as the exchange key with the dealer.

The rack, at opening, needs checking. The data comes from Agrippa and often carries duplicates and omissions. You have six months to correct it on your own, and five days to confirm each purchase before it is validated automatically.

The SIA lists your firearms, not your practice. Neither remaining ammunition, nor sessions, nor licence expiry: article R312-85 sticks to your firearms and your permits. That tracking is done nowhere on your behalf.

And if a point looks doubtful, checking is quick: articles R312-84 to R312-90 of the code de la sécurité intérieure run to a few screens on Légifrance.

Sources 22 references

Every deadline and every procedure has been traced to its source, favoring Légifrance and service-public.gouv.fr, then the pages of the prefectures and the FFTir. The practical indications from the UFA and a regional league, flagged with ⚠️, complete the texts without standing in for them. Click a note marker in the text to highlight the matching source.

Légifrance — code de la sécurité intérieure, sub-section 2 "Système d'information sur les armes (SIA)", articles R312-84 to R312-90: the SIA is an "automated processing of personal data", created by decree no. 2020-487 of 28 April 2020 (R312-84, in force since 30 April 2020); four families of data recorded (R312-85); automatic consultation of the FINIADA, the criminal record, the national file for checking the validity of documents, the Base Adresse Nationale and the "processing system of the Fédération française de tir" (R312-87, I, 4° c, in force since 30 April 2020, unamended); retention of thirty years from the destruction of the firearm (R312-88, amended by decree no. 2024-615, in force on 29 June 2024).
Légifrance — code de la sécurité intérieure, article R312-50, version in force since 1 August 2018: "Any holder of a firearm acquisition or holding permit informs of their change of address the prefect of the department in which the new home is located." No period in days is set by the text.
Service-public.gouv.fr (DILA) — Category B firearm (subject to authorization) for a sport shooter, factsheet F2250, verified 20 March 2025: automatic transfer of the purchased firearm to the digital gun rack, obligation to confirm the purchase online through the SIA account and automatic validation after 5 days; Category B authorization applied for online after the account is created, valid 5 years. The documents it lists (birth certificate extract less than 3 months old, FFTir opinion) are those for the authorization application, not for creating the account.
Service-public.gouv.fr (DILA) — Category C firearms (subject to declaration), factsheet F2246, verified 20 March 2025: a second independent official source for online purchase confirmation through the SIA account and automatic validation after 5 days, with automatic transfer of the firearm to the digital gun rack; SIA account compulsory in order to buy.
Service-public.gouv.fr (DILA) — holding a firearm: must you report a change of address?, factsheet F31661, verified 28 January 2026: the change of address is declared through the SIA account by recording updated proof of address; "Failing to report a new home when moving to another department is punishable by a fine of €750" (referring to R312-50 to R312-51-1 and R317-1 to R317-3). No period in days.
Fédération française de tir (FFTir) — SIA – Création Espace Détenteur, published 17 December 2024: creation deadline "before 31 December 2024" for licence holders owning firearms, failing which they are "in breach"; portal sia.detenteurs.interieur.gouv.fr; help available from a club, a sub-prefecture, a dealer or a France Services office.
Fédération française de tir (FFTir) — Système d'information sur les armes – SIA, published 29 February 2024: opening to sport shooters on 27 February 2024; the holder receives an SIA number, "their personal firearm holder's number", which they give their dealer at every acquisition; direct access to the digital gun rack and a period of 6 months from the creation of the account to update it.
Meuse prefecture — Créer mon compte SIA, updated 4 November 2025: identity document front and back, proof of address less than 3 months old and valid federal shooting licence; "firearms declared to the Prefecture appear on the digital gun rack about 15 days after my account is opened"; deadline of 5 January 2026 (including clay pigeon, skiing, biathlon); procedures for a duplicate ("I do not own or no longer own this firearm") and a missing firearm (RGA number then serial number). The most complete source on the troubleshooting side.
Loire prefecture — Système d'information sur les armes (SIA), updated 19 March 2025: holders are assigned a personal SIA number once their account is created; procedure to be completed "by 5 January 2026"; period of 6 months to correct and update the rack.
Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture — Le nouveau système d'information sur les armes (SIA), updated 18 September 2025: "Since 8 February 2022, the SIA […] will in time replace the current Agrippa application"; objectives "Dématérialiser, Simplifier, Sécuriser"; the account gives access to the digital gun rack, "the inventory of the firearms you own"; personal SIA number "throughout your life as a firearm holder"; opening to shooters on 27 February 2024.
Seine-Maritime prefecture — Vous êtes détenteur d'une arme héritée ou trouvée, updated 23 July 2025: restatement, without citing the text, of the deadlines in article R312-51 of the code de la sécurité intérieure. Both periods appear in the sections devoted to the firearm you wish to keep — "The firearm must be lodged with an authorized professional dealer within three months of registration at the latest"; "you have a period of twelve months from its registration to meet the conditions necessary to obtain the authorization" — and not in the section "If you do not wish to keep the firearm", which lists sale, destruction and surrender to the state (CERFA 11845*3). The page is cited for its explanatory value, the applicable text being R312-51.
Tarn prefecture — Foire aux questions (FAQ) sur le Système d'information sur les Armes (SIA), 2025 content reproducing the official SIA FAQ in HTML: "The SIA number is the exchange key between the dealer and the holder for any transaction. The SIA account is an overall collection of information concerning the holder"; up to 4 secondary residences may be declared; authorization renewal "at least three months before the end of validity", implicit refusal set at three months; 6 months to fill in the rack; "for shooters, the SIA and EDEN communicate to check the validity of the licence".
Var prefecture — Chasse et tir sportif : créez votre compte SIA, updated 31 October 2024: creation "requires internet access and an email address, together with documents in digital format, in particular to prove identity and address"; personal SIA number "throughout their life as firearm holders"; period of 6 months to correct and update the rack.
⚠️ UFA – Union Française des amateurs d'Armes — Comment gérer son compte SIA et son râtelier numérique: managing the rack and the "provisional rack"; "You have a period of 6 months to correct the information relating to your firearms entirely on your own"; purchase confirmation "validated automatically after a few days" (less precise than the official factsheets, which state 5 days); transfer between private individuals through the SIA number. Unofficial association source, update date displayed dynamically, cited as such.
⚠️ UFA – Union Française des amateurs d'Armes — SIA : cas pratique d'une déclaration d'une arme héritée: explains why an inherited firearm is slow to appear on the rack — the heir creates an account, adds the firearm, and a prefecture officer must then validate the declaration; the wait depends on the officers' workload. Unofficial association source, given in summary (exact wording not guaranteed).
⚠️ UFA – Union Française des amateurs d'Armes — Tireurs : gestion dématérialisée des licences (EDEN et ITAC), published 6 January 2023: EDEN is the licence holder's paperless space (paperless shooting licence), ITAC the tool of clubs, leagues and the federation; a link with the ministry's SIA is announced for later. Unofficial association source, given in summary.
⚠️ Ligue de Tir du Languedoc-Roussillon — SIA / EDEN, undated (predating the opening of the SIA to shooters): EDEN is "a digital portal allowing members of the Fédération Française de Tir to obtain their paperless federal licence", the SIA "a portal of the Service Central des Armes et Explosifs […] of the Ministry of the Interior" for holders' procedures. Unofficial league source, cited for the SIA/EDEN distinction.
Ministry of the Interior / Hautes-Pyrénées prefecture (host) — Guide utilisateur de l'Espace détenteurs du SIA (PDF "Guide utilisateur_SIA_LivretA5", metadata dated 23 June 2022): establishes the existence and the vintage of the official SIA user guide. The document is distributed as images; its detailed content is not cited here.
Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture — Vous êtes détenteurs d'arme héritée ou trouvée, updated 22 September 2025: "the holder must record each inherited or found firearm on their own rack"; SIA account compulsory in order to hold firearms. The page does not restate the 3- and 12-month deadlines of article R312-51, which nonetheless apply: its silence illustrates the unequal information given to holders, not a difference in the law.
Pyrénées-Atlantiques prefecture — Armes héritées et trouvées : comment les déclarer ou les abandonner, update date not displayed: "For an inherited or found firearm that you wish to keep, the Système d'Information sur les Armes (SIA) remains open"; the other option, disposal at the gendarmerie or the police station. The page restates neither the 3- and 12-month deadlines nor the fate of a lifetime authorization.
Légifrance — code de la sécurité intérieure, article R312-51, version in force since 29 June 2024 (decree no. 2024-615 of 27 June 2024, article 2), consulted 30 July 2026: a Category A or B firearm found or devolved by inheritance "and which they wish to keep" is declared "without delay" through the individual account of article R312-91; "that person has a period of twelve months from their declaration to meet the conditions necessary to obtain the authorization provided for in the first paragraph of article R. 312-21, or to bring themselves into compliance with the rules on quotas"; the firearm "is lodged with a professional mentioned in article L. 313-2 authorized for the corresponding category [...] within three months of the declaration provided for in the first paragraph at the latest. Failing that, the prefect shall order its disposal under the conditions provided for in articles R. 312-74 and R. 312-75"; past the twelve months without meeting the conditions, the holder disposes of the firearm or has it deactivated. Article R312-51-1, created by the same decree, covers the firearm you do not wish to keep: disposal under the terms of article R312-74, "without having to declare them beforehand". Both these periods are national and depend on no prefectural instruction.
Oplo — Michel Baillon, gunsmith, knowledge synthesis established 9 August 2026: "As long as you have not cleared the firearm on your rack, you cannot buy Category B ammunition", and its consequence at the counter — a firearm and its ammunition bought on the same day cannot be handled at the same time. Drawn from official sources and the reviewer's professional practice; the point appears on none of the service-public factsheets consulted for this article.

The regulation in force governs. This article cites the texts and official pages applicable as at 30 July 2026, with their articles and their vintages. French firearms law moves fast, and the sub-section of the code devoted to the SIA was itself amended in 2024; a deadline or a procedure that is current today may not be tomorrow. Check the version in force on Légifrance and the state of your rack in your SIA account before taking any step.

Frequently asked questions

Is an SIA account compulsory for a sport shooter?

Yes. Every firearm holder must have an SIA account. Shooters licensed with the FFTir had to open theirs before 31 December 2024, failing which they stand in breach as far as the administration is concerned. The profiles brought in later — clay pigeon, skiing, biathlon, former licence holders — had until 5 January 2026 to create theirs, according to the Meuse and Loire prefectures.

What is the difference between the SIA number and the SIA account?

The official FAQ draws the line clearly: the SIA number is "the exchange key between the dealer and the holder for any transaction", while the SIA account is "an overall collection of information concerning the holder". The number is personal to you and follows you for your whole life as a firearm holder; it is the number, not the account, that you give the dealer at every acquisition.

What documents are needed to create an SIA account?

Three documents are enough, whatever the profile: a valid identity document, front and back; proof of address less than three months old; your valid federal shooting licence. Take care not to confuse them with the documents for a Category B authorization application, which is a separate step and calls for others, such as a birth certificate extract.

How long before my firearms appear on the rack?

Allow about a fortnight after opening the account for firearms already declared to the prefecture, according to the Meuse prefecture. This is not a national deadline you can rely on: no text sets it, and the UFA merely advises waiting "several days". Since the data comes from the old Agrippa file, omissions and duplicates are common; you have six months to correct everything on your own.

What if a firearm is missing or duplicated on the rack?

You have six months after opening to correct your firearms entirely on your own. A missing firearm is added by entering its number in the Référentiel général des armes (RGA), then its serial number; a duplicate is flagged to state that you do not own, or no longer own, that firearm. After the six months, correction no longer happens on your own: it goes back through your prefecture.

Does the SIA account track my ammunition and my shooting sessions?

No. Article R312-85 limits recording to four families of data: the identity of holders, firearms and their components, manufacturers and dealers, and administrative permits. Neither rounds fired, nor maintenance, nor actual ammunition stock, nor controlled sessions appear there. Your licence expiry date belongs to the federation's EDEN system, not to the SIA.

How long do I have to confirm a firearm purchase?

Five days. The dealer transfers the firearm to your rack, and you then confirm the transaction online from your SIA account. If you do not, the purchase is validated automatically after five days. This calendar deadline applies to Category B as to Category C, and it is confirmed by two independent service-public.gouv.fr factsheets.

How do you declare an inherited firearm in the SIA account?

The holder records each inherited or found firearm on their own rack. For a Category A or B firearm they wish to keep, article R312-51 of the code de la sécurité intérieure requires it to be lodged with an authorized dealer within three months of the declaration at the latest, and allows twelve months to meet the conditions for authorization. If they do not keep it, article R312-51-1 exempts them from any prior declaration: they dispose of it directly, by sale, destruction, or surrender to the gendarmerie or the police station.