Fireworks policy in the European Union is aimed at harmonising and standardising the EU member states' policies on the regulation of production, transportation, sale, consumption and overall safety of fireworks across the European Union. [1] Regulation is achieved via Directive 2013/29/EU on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to the making available on the market of pyrotechnic articles.
After a 2003 consultation, the European Commission introduced a proposal for a European guideline to harmonise the international trade in and safety of fireworks on 11 October 2005. [1] The proposal classified fireworks into four categories on the European level. It stipulated that Category 4 is exclusively meant for professional usage, and that member states are allowed to limit the sale of fireworks to the public concerning the categories 2 and 3. The proposed minimal requirements for age limits can be heightened by the member states. [2]
This led to Directive 2007/23/EC, which was to be embedded into the member states' laws by 4 January 2010, to be applied by 4 July 2010 to fireworks of category 1, 2 and 3, and to be applied to all other pyrotechnic articles by 4 July 2013. [3] On 12 June 2013, Directive 2013/29/EU was adopted, which the Member States were to enact in national law by 4 July 2017. [4] [5]
Since 2010, safety testing of fireworks is required in the entire Union, but companies are allowed to test their products in one member state before importing and selling them in another. [1] A 2010 document from the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment revealed that several fireworks importers in the Netherlands did not yet comply to the new testing regulations, but were not penalised for it, because a number of companies claimed they needed more time to implement the changes and were granted exceptions by the Ministry. [1] Dream Fireworks owner Frits Pen, who claimed to have had his fireworks tested in Hungary for thousands of euros, sued the Ministry for failing to punish his competitors who were allowed to import and sell untested fireworks for free. [1] In 2014, the Ministry stated that, by then, 80% of the fireworks imported into the Netherlands had a CE marking and were being checked. [1]
The European Union's import rules for fireworks and firecrackers mainly consist of the requirements included in Directive 2013/29/EU, such as harmonised standards including EN 15947 and CE marking. [6] The EN 15947 standards series is a series of European fireworks safety standards. CE marking is possible for products that meet the requirements of these standards.
The European Union's import rules for fireworks and firecrackers are governed primarily by Directive 2013/29/EU, which sets the legal framework for the safety and regulation of pyrotechnic articles, including fireworks, across the EU member states. The directive aims to ensure a high level of safety for consumers and professionals, facilitate the free movement of fireworks within the internal market, and provide clear guidelines for manufacturers and importers.
The EN 15947 standards series is central to the EU's regulation of fireworks. It comprises a set of technical guidelines that manufacturers and importers must adhere to for their products to be legally sold in the EU market. Key elements of the standards include:
Manufacturers outside the EU wishing to export fireworks to the European market must ensure their products comply with the directive and EN 15947 standards. The CE marking process involves:
Importers are also responsible for verifying that the products they distribute meet these requirements. Non-compliance can result in fines, product recalls, or bans on sales.
The EU emphasizes consumer safety by requiring fireworks to include clear instructions, warnings, and age restrictions on packaging. Public awareness campaigns are often conducted during festive seasons to educate citizens about safe usage and the legal purchase of CE-marked fireworks.
While Directive 2013/29/EU and EN 15947 standards have significantly improved fireworks safety, challenges remain, such as:
Future updates to the directive may include stricter environmental standards and improved measures for tracing the supply chain of fireworks within the EU.
Fireworks in the Europe Union are classified into four categories:
The minimal ages set by the Directive are:
Category F4 fireworks are restricted to professionals throughout the EU. Individual member states are allowed to prohibit the sale, possession and usage of other categories by consumers as well, if they so choose. In Belgium, and Germany, amateurs cannot buy category F3; in the Republic of Ireland, they can neither buy category F3 nor F2. [7] [8] Germany and France have also raised the age for category F2 fireworks from 16 to 18. [7]
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The EU's regulations on fireworks are the minimum standards for all member states, but the states are allowed to legislate on additional restrictions within their respective territories.
Since 5 July 2017, the sale of category F3 fireworks to non-professionals is a criminal offence in Belgium. The non-professional customer needs to be at least 12 years old for category F1 and at least 16 years old for category F2; the vendor is required to verify the customer's age. [9] In Flanders, the Gemeentedecreet (Municipal Decree) gives the 308 municipalities of the Flemish Region the authority to introduce a required licence for lighting fireworks, or to prohibit the ignition of fireworks on certain locations. [7]
In Germany, amateurs over 18 years old are allowed to buy and ignite fireworks of Category F2 for several hours on 31 December and 1 January; each German municipality is authorised to limit the number of hours this may last locally. [5] The sale of Category F3 and F4 fireworks to consumers is prohibited. [7] Lighting fireworks is forbidden near churches, hospitals, retirement homes and wooden or thatch-roofed buildings. [7] All major German cities organise professional fireworks shows. [7]
In Finland those under 18 years old haven't been allowed to buy any fireworks since 2009. Safety goggles are required. The use of fireworks is generally allowed on the evening and night of New Year's Eve, December 31. In some municipalities of Western Finland it is allowed to use fireworks without a fire station's permission on the last weekend of August. With the fire station's permission, fireworks can be used year-round.[ citation needed ]
Fireworks in the Netherlands are mostly regulated by the Vuurwerkbesluit ("Fireworks Decree"), a 1993 law that has subsequently been amended many times to make the rules surrounding the production, testing, transportation, storage, trade, sale, consumption and overall safety of fireworks stricter and in harmony with other EU countries. During most of the year, most fireworks are restricted to usage by professionals, but there is an exception for ordinary citizens without any special training or licence to ignite fireworks during New Year's Eve from 6 pm on 31 December to 2 am on 1 January. Especially since the 2000 Enschede fireworks disaster, [10] and more so since the accident-laden New Year's Eve of 2007/08, [11] public discussion on more rigorous regulation or even prohibition on (consumer) fireworks has been frequent and ongoing. [12] [13]
In the Republic of Ireland, only category F1 fireworks (such as sparklers) are available for sale, possession and use to amateurs. [8] This makes Ireland one of the strictest countries in the world when it comes to consumer fireworks. [14]
The original law banning ordinary citizens from the purchase of fireworks, the Explosives Act 1875, was adopted when the whole island was still part of the United Kingdom. [15] Subsequent amendments and additional acts were passed to make the policy even stricter. [15] For example, because the 1875 Act did not contain a provision on the possession of fireworks, [14] the law was amended in 2006 to ban amateurs from owning fireworks as well. [15] A person selling, buying, owning or lighting fireworks from categories F2 to F4 without a licence is now punishable with a fine or even imprisonment. Only pyrotechnicians are allowed to ignite such heavier fireworks. [14]
In the early 21st century, Sweden introduced more stringent rules on the use and sales of fireworks. In 2002, firecrackers were banned and in 2014, heavier rockets were banned. In late December 2018, it was announced that from 1 June 2019, skyrockets need to be launched with "control sticks", and anyone buying and lighting skyrockets must complete a special training course set up by the municipalities to obtain a permit; retailers may only sell skyrockets to permit holders. The illegal import and online sale of fireworks were anticipated problems of the new regulations. [16]
According to 2015 law it is forbidden to fire rockets with more than ten kilograms of explosive substances at a time without license. Under ten kilograms is it not a firework (de jure), and the law does not impose any other limitations. No report or permission is needed. For more than ten kilos of fireworks, license and report to the municipal office and a fire brigade is obligatory. The fine for non-compliance is up to half a million crowns, one million crowns for a company. In reality, however, such notifications are minimal, and no one checks how many rakes are actually being fired. [17] [18]
The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC, short for Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, was adopted in February 2003 by the European Union.
The presence of the logo on commercial products indicates that the manufacturer or importer affirms the goods' conformity with European health, safety, and environmental protection standards. It is not a quality indicator or a certification mark. The CE marking is required for goods sold in the European Economic Area (EEA); goods sold elsewhere may also carry the mark.
Fireworks in England, Scotland and Wales are governed primarily by the Fireworks Regulations 2004, the Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations 2015, and British Standards BS 7114 until 4/7/17 and BS-EN 15947-2015. In Northern Ireland, fireworks are governed by The Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations 2015, and Explosives (Fireworks) Regulations (NI) 2002.
The Pressure Equipment Directive (PED) 2014/68/EU of the EU sets out the standards for the design and fabrication of pressure equipment generally over one liter in volume and having a maximum pressure more than 0.5 bar gauge. It also sets the administrative procedures requirements for the "conformity assessment" of pressure equipment, for the free placing on the European market without local legislative barriers. It has been mandatory throughout the EU since 30 May 2002, with 2014 revision fully effective as of 19 July 2016. The standards and regulations regarding pressure vessels and boiler safety are also very close to the US standards defined by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). This enables most international inspection agencies to provide both verification and certification services to assess compliance to the different pressure equipment directives. From the pressure vessel manufactures PED does not generally require a prior manufacturing permit/certificate/stamp as ASME does.
Type approval or certificate of conformity is granted to a product that meets a minimum set of regulatory, technical and safety requirements. Generally, type approval is required before a product is allowed to be sold in a particular country, so the requirements for a given product will vary around the world. Processes and certifications known as type approval in English are often called homologation, or some cognate expression, in other European languages.
European Standards, sometimes called Euronorm, are technical standards which have been ratified by one of the three European Standards Organizations (ESO): European Committee for Standardization (CEN), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC), or European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). All ENs are designed and created by all standards organizations and interested parties through a transparent, open, and consensual process.
The ATEX directives are two of the EU directives describing the minimum safety requirements for workplaces and equipment used in explosive atmospheres. The name is an initialization of the term ATmosphères EXplosibles.
Home state regulation is a principle in the law of the European Union for resolving conflict of laws between Member States when dealing with cross-border selling or marketing of goods and services. The principle states that, where an action or service is performed in one country but received in another, the applicable law is the law of the country where the action or service is performed. It is also called home country control, country of origin rule, or country of origin principle. It is one possible rule of EU law, specifically of European Single Market law, that determines which laws will apply to goods or services that cross the border of Member States.
Toy safety is the practice of ensuring that toys, especially those made for children, are safe, usually through the application of set safety standards. In many countries, commercial toys must be able to pass safety tests in order to be sold. In the U.S., some toys must meet national standards, while other toys may not have to meet a defined safety standard. In countries where standards exist, they exist in order to prevent accidents, but there have still been some high-profile product recalls after such problems have occurred. The danger is often not due to faulty design; usage and chance both play a role in injury and death incidents as well.
The European driving licence is a driving licence issued by the member states of the European Economic Area (EEA); all 27 EU member states and three EFTA member states; Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, which give shared features the various driving licence styles formerly in use. It is credit card-style with a photograph. They were introduced to replace the 110 different plastic and paper driving licences of the 300 million drivers in the EEA. The main objective of the licence is to reduce the risk of fraud.
The Medical Device Directive—Council Directive 93/42/EEC of 14 June 1993 concerning medical devices—is intended to harmonise the laws relating to medical devices within the European Union. The MD Directive is a 'New Approach' Directive and consequently in order for a manufacturer to legally place a medical device on the European market the requirements of the MD Directive have to be met. Manufacturers' products meeting 'harmonised standards' have a presumption of conformity to the Directive. Products conforming with the MD Directive must have a CE mark applied. The Directive was most recently reviewed and amended by the 2007/47/EC and a number of changes were made. Compliance with the revised directive became mandatory on 21 March 2010.
The Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2, Directive (EU) 2015/2366, which replaced the Payment Services Directive (PSD), Directive 2007/64/EC) is an EU Directive, administered by the European Commission (Directorate General Internal Market) to regulate payment services and payment service providers throughout the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA). The PSD's purpose was to increase pan-European competition and participation in the payments industry also from non-banks, and to provide for a level playing field by harmonizing consumer protection and the rights and obligations of payment providers and users. The key objectives of the PSD2 directive are creating a more integrated European payments market, making payments more secure and protecting consumers.
A notified body, in the European Union, is an organisation that has been designated by a member state to assess the conformity of certain products, before being placed on the EU market, with the applicable essential technical requirements. These essential requirements are publicised in European directives or regulations.
Construction Products Directive (Council Directive 89/106/EEC)(CPD) is a now repealed European Union Directive which aimed to remove technical barriers to trade in construction products between Member States in the European Union.
Regulation No. 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union is a regulation of 9 March 2011 which lays down harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products and replaces Construction Products Directive (89/106/EEC). This EU regulation is designed to simplify and clarify the existing framework for the placing on the market of construction products. It replaced the earlier (1989) Construction Products Directive (89/106/EEC).
The Low Voltage Directive (LVD) 2006/95/EC is one of the oldest Single Market Directives adopted by the European Union before the "New" or "Global" Approach. The Directive provides common broad objectives for safety regulations, so that electrical equipment approved by any EU member country will be acceptable for use in all other EU countries. The Low Voltage Directive does not supply any specific technical standards that must be met, instead relying on IEC technical standards to guide designers to produce safe products. Products that conform to the general principles of the Low Voltage Directive and the relevant particular safety standards are marked with the CE marking to indicate compliance and acceptance throughout the EU. Conformance is asserted by the manufacturer based on its conformity assessment.
The Recreational Craft Directive, Directive 2013/53/EU, originally Directive 94/25/EC on recreational craft amended by Directive 2003/44/EC, is a European Union directive which sets out minimum technical, safety and environmental standards for boats, personal watercraft, marine engines and components in Europe. It covers boats between 2.5 and 24m, personal watercraft, engines and a number of components built since 1998. It ensures their suitability for sale and use in Europe.
The Machinery Directive, Directive 2006/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 is a European Union directive concerning machinery and certain parts of machinery. Its main intent is to ensure a common safety level in machinery placed on the market or put in service in all member states and to ensure freedom of movement within the European Union by stating that "member states shall not prohibit, restrict or impede the placing on the market and/or putting into service in their territory of machinery which complies with [the] Directive".
The sales of fireworks in Belgium is federally regulated. Since 5 July 2017, the sale of European category F3 fireworks to non-professionals is a criminal offence; the non-professional customer needs to be at least 12 years old for category F1 and at least 16 years old for category F2; the vendor is required to verify the customer's age.
Fireworks in the Netherlands are mostly regulated by the Vuurwerkbesluit, a 1993 law that has subsequently been amended many times to make the rules surrounding the production, testing, transportation, storage, trade, sale, consumption and overall safety of fireworks stricter.