The Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations 2015 have been implemented today (21.07.15). They bring in new provisions which harmonise the obligations of economic operators and introduce new requirements to improve the traceability of pyrotechnic articles.

The Regulations and Explanatory Note are below. The impact assessment and transposition note are available alongside the regulations on the legislation.gov.uk website at www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2015/1553

uksi_20151553_en  uksiem_20151553_en

What is this consultation about?

The consultation is about how the UK implements two new EU Directives on pyrotechnic articles – which include fireworks. As the Directives have already been made, we can’t influence their contents.   But we do want to get the views of stakeholders on how we are implementing those Directives. We have set out a number of specific questions on which we are asking for responses. We plan to get rid of the old pyrotechnic regulations (Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations 2010) and replace them with a new set of regulations.  A draft of the new regulations is in the consultation document.

Who will be interested in it?

This consultation will be relevant to:

  • manufacturers, importers and distributors of pyrotechnic articles;
  • bodies involved in the conformity assessment of pyrotechnic articles (currently there are no such bodies in the UK); and
  • enforcement authorities with responsibilities for pyrotechnic articles such as trading standards and the Health and Safety Executive

 What are the main changes?

There will be new labelling requirements for manufacturers and importers and, along with distributors, they will also have to keep records of the registration number of articles, who they have sold pyrotechnic articles to and who has supplied them, for 10 years.  They will also have new obligations to take action over unsafe articles that they have put on the market.