Article 1
This act is enacted to regulate the administration of Fireworks, prevent disasters, protect lives and the property of people as well as ensure public safety.
Article 2
The “competent authority” in this act refers to the Ministry of the Interior in the central government, the city government in special municipalities, and the county (city) government in counties (city).
The power of a competent authority is divided as follows:
1. Central competent authority:
(1) Designs and plans the administration and formulation, revision, and cancellation of the regulations on safety management systems for fireworks.
(2) Import permits for the quantity of fireworks, Potassium Chlorate (KClO3) and Potassium Perchlorate (KClO4) announced by the central competent authority.
(3) Obtain sales permits stipulating the quantity of Potassium Chlorate (KClO3) and Potassium Perchlorate (KClO4) as announced by the central competent authority.
(4) Handle all of the relevant affairs for the approval of all general fireworks.
(5) Supervision of local competent authority’s safety management.
(6) Planning and conducting courses and training for those supervising the fireworks.
2. Local competent authority in special municipality and county (city):
(1) Planning the safety management of fireworks and formulation, revision and cancellation of autonomous regulations.
(2) Granting permits, modifications, revocations or cancellations of certificates for pyrotechnic manufacturing.
(3) The inspection and safety management of locations, structures, facilities and the premises for pyrotechnic manufacturing as well as the premises used to store and sale fireworks and the quantity stipulated by the central competent authority.
(4) Enforcement and handling of illegal manufacturing, importing, storing, unsealing, conveyance from storage premises, selling, discharging, holding or exhibiting the products, semi-finished products, material of fireworks or the instruments specifically used for manufacturing fireworks or for discharging fireworks.
(5) Seal general fireworks when imported.
(6) Any other matters concerning the safety management of fireworks.
Based on special needs, if the central competent authority establishes a fire authority in a particular territory according to the act, the power and affairs stated in the above section, subsection 2, will be handled by the central competent authority. If necessary the central competent authority may entrust its power to the local competent authority in a special municipality or county (city).
Article 3
The “fireworks” in this act means those with powder inside which will appear to sparkle, spin, move, float, levitate or produce boom sounds or smoke after being discharged, and used for celebrations or entertainment, but excluding signal flares, smoke bombs, or any other powder products.
Fireworks are classified as follows:
1. General fireworks: Provided to consumers through type approval, individual approval, and have attached to them an approval symbol.
2. Professional fireworks: Discharged by professional personal and divided as followed:
(1) Stage pyrotechnics: Airbursts, flares, line rockets, concussion mortar and binary systems used especially in movies, television programs, dramas, concerts and other activities for producing performance sound and light effects.
(2) Special pyrotechnics: Aerial shells, cakes, powder wrapped in a single paper tube or its combinations and used in outdoor activities for producing tremendous sound and light effectiveness.
(3) Any other kind of professional pyrotechnic devices announced by the central competent authority.
Article 4
The person in charge of the premises for pyrotechnic manufacturing or of the premises for storage, sale of fireworks and the quantity as announced by the central competent authority shall manufacture, store and handle them in safe manner.
The central competent authority shall summon relevant governmental agencies and jointly formulate the rules of standard and safety management of the location, structure, facility and any other affairs of the premises mentioned in the above section.
Article 5
Whoever applies to use the premises for pyrotechnic manufacturing or to use the premises for storage, sale of fireworks and meets the quantity as announced by the central competent authority, in addition to obeying the relative construction regulations, shall hand in diagrams of the location, structure and facility of the premises mentioned in the 2nd section of above to the local competent authority. Such documents will be transferred to and examined by the fire competent authority. Only after such an examination is completed can the constructive competent authority in special municipality or county (city) grant a construction license.
After the construction of the premises mentioned in the above section is completed, the local constructive competent authority shall summon the local fire competent authority to jointly examine the location, structure and facilities of the premises. Only after such an examination is completed can the local constructive competent authority grant a usage license.
If there is any addition, remodeling or change of usage to the building of the premises mention in the above section, or utilizing an existing building or structure for the purpose in the first section of this article, the examination procedure in the first two sections of this article shall apply.
Article 6
Whoever applies for a permit of pyrotechnic manufacturing shall attach the documents below and turn in the application to the local competent authority. Only after such a certificate of allowance is granted, can the applicant precede in manufacturing:
1. Identification of the person in charge;
2. Usage license;
3. Floor plans;
4. Factory registration certificate;
5. Company or business registration certificate;
6. Security plan;
7. Policy of public liability insurance; and
8. Any documents announced by the central competent authority shall be attached to the application.
If there is any modification to the contents of the above-mentioned documents for the permit, the applicant shall apply for a certificate showing such modifications to the local competent authority within thirty days after the date that the reason of revision occurs.
If any of the following situations occur, the local competent authority shall deny the application for permit in section 1 of this article:
1. The person in charge manufactures fireworks against this act and is found guilty, but the sentence is not carried out completely or was carried out completely within five years.
2. The permit was cancelled or terminated by the local competent authority within five years.
Even if the permit of pyrotechnic manufacturing has been granted, and if any of the following situations exist, the local competent authority may cancel or terminate the permit and write off the certificate of permit:
1. Any crucially untrue information found in the application documents;
2. Significant public accident occurs in the premises of pyrotechnic manufacturing;
3. If part of or the whole premises of pyrotechnic manufacturing was leased or lent to any other person for pyrotechnic manufacturing or processing; or
4. Premises of pyrotechnic manufacturing goes against this act and the person in charge was asked to improve within a given period and failed to make improvements within that given period.
The central competent authority shall formulate the rules concerning the qualifications of an applicant, application procedures, attached documents, elements of permit, method of examination, fees, content of the certificate of allowance and any other regulations to be adhered, to the permit in section 1 or the revision after the permit in the section 2.
Article 7
Whoever imports or sells Potassium Chlorate (KClO3) and Potassium Perchlorate (KClO4) exceeding in quantity announced by the central competent authority shall apply for the certificate of allowance from the central competent authority with information about the quantity, certificate of the qualified storage premises, usage plans, names of importers or sellers, escorts, transportation methods and transit routes.
The imported Potassium Chlorate (KClO3) and Potassium Perchlorate (KClO4) shall be placed in the qualified storage premises. The local competent authority shall be notified two days prior to the storage date in order to examine the quantity of the goods.
Before the Potassium Chlorate (KClO3) and Potassium Perchlorate (KClO4) mentioned in the above section are to be transported out of the storage premises, the importer or seller shall report to the local competent authority for reference.
Article 8
The purchase, import, transport and storage of the black powder and safety fuse for manufacturing professional pyrotechnic devices, establishment or change of magazine, and affairs of safety management, shall be governed by Industrial Explosives Administrative Act.
The central competent authority shall entrust the central competent authority on industrial explosives to handle the affairs in the above section
Article 9
Importer or seller of general fireworks shall apply for type approval, certificate of type approval, and individual approval, attaching approval symbol to fireworks. Only after this can the central competent authority finish the examination to grant an approval symbol, the general fireworks may be sold domestically.
If there is any change of the contents in certificate of type approval in the above section, the applicant shall apply with relevant information for such changes to the central competent authority for revision; if such changes concern the nature or effectiveness of the fireworks, the applicant shall apply for new approval.
General fireworks that do not have approval symbol attached to them shall not be sold, held, or exhibited.
If general fireworks fail to qualify for individual approval, after obtaining consent of the central competent authority, general fireworks may be repaired, destroyed or re-exported out of the storage premises; the central competent authority may directly destroy or re-export or order the applicant to destroy or re-export the fireworks which cannot be repaired.
For the attached approval symbol on the general fireworks, the central competent authority may enter the manufacturing, storage or selling premises and conduct random examinations or examine samples by purchasing them from the market.
The central competent authority may entrust the professional institutes it approves to handle the type approval, individual approval, certificate for type approval, issuing the approval symbol after due investigation and examination on attached approval symbol in section 1; examination to revision of type approval in section 2, and the random examination or purchased simple examination in the above section.
The central competent authority shall formulate the rules concerning the qualification of applicant, application procedure, attached documents, elements of approval, method of examination, specification of signs, attaching method, charging fee, safety signs, revision of type approval, and any other regulation should be adhered, in section 1 and section 2.
Article 10
The approval may be terminated for type approval of the general fireworks if one of the following situations occurs:
1. Approval symbol is not attached according to the regulation or the symbol attached is does not adhere to the regulations, and the violator is asked to make improvements within a given period and fails make such improvements within the given period.
2. Refuses to accept random examinations without justified reasons.
3. The result of examination in section 5 in above article, fails to match the content of type approval, and the violator is asked to improve within a given period, but fails to improve within that given period.
4. Injury, death or accident occurs in spite of the consumer using fireworks in a safe manner.
5. Approval symbol is leased or lend to any other person.
If the type approval of general fireworks is terminated according to the regulations in the above sections, the central competent authority shall write off the certificate of approval and approval symbol and announce such writing off; the statutory person in charge shall recall the general fireworks in manufacturing, storage and selling premises within the given period ordered by the central competent authority. The statutory person in charge shall not apply for type approval for such general fireworks within 2 years after the termination of type approval.
Article 11
Whoever imports general fireworks to be applied for type approval, shall apply the certificate of approval from the central competent authority with information about name of the importer, type of the general fireworks, specification, quantity, origin of import, packing situation, certificate of qualified storage premises, usage plans, names of importers or sellers, escorts, transportation methods and transit routes.
Whoever imports general fireworks to be applied for individual approval, in addition to the documents stated in above section, shall enclose a photocopy of the certificate of type approval with the application documents in order to apply for the certificate of individual approval.
The imported general fireworks according to the above section shall be placed in the qualified storage premises and the applicant shall notify the local competent authority that it is sealed for safekeeping. Only after the fireworks have obtained individual approval and the central competent authority’s consent, can the applicant apply to unseal the fireworks.
Article 12
The general fireworks shall not be sold in vending machines, post-sale or any other methods without identifying the buyer’s age.
Article 13
Parents, guardians, and the person who actually takes care of the children, shall accompany the children when they discharge the general fireworks.
The central competent authority shall announce the categories of general fireworks which shall not be discharged by children.
The categories of general fireworks in the above section shall not be sold to children.
Article 14
Whoever imports professional pyrotechnic devices shall apply for a certificate of approval from the central competent authority with information about name of importer, type of professional pyrotechnic devices, specifications, quantity, origins of import, packing situation, certificate of qualified storage premises, certificate of importer, escort, transportation methods and transit routes and the permit for discharging or reference documents granted by the local competent authority.
The imported professional pyrotechnic devices shall be placed in the qualified storage premises and the applicant shall notify the local competent authority to examine the quantity and then store the professional pyrotechnic devices.
If there is any change made to the contents in the certificate of allowance for importing professional pyrotechnic devices after the permit has been granted, the applicant shall apply with the original certificate of allowance to the central competent authority for revision.
The central competent authority may cancel or terminate the permit and direct destroy or re-export or order the import to destroy or re-export the professional pyrotechnic devices if the professional pyrotechnic devices with permits for importing granted by the central competent authority have any of the following situations:
1. The information for application to allow the importing is false and untrue.
2. Violate section 2 or section 3 of this Article.
Article 15
Fireworks shall not be discharged on the following premises or grounds:
1. Oil refineries.
2. Gasoline station, LPG station, and fishing vessel filling station.
3. Petroleum tank area in an oil storage facility.
4. Ammunition and gunpowder storage.
5. Storage tank of combustible gases.
6. The manufacturing, storage and handling premises of public hazardous substances & flammable pressurized gases.
7. Manufacturing, storage and selling premises of fireworks.
While discharging general fireworks, the discharger shall keep a safe distance marked on the general fireworks to the outside of the premises or the wall of the premises or the facility equal to the premises stated in the respective subsections of the above section.
Article 16
Except when discharging the professional pyrotechnic devices in section 2, before discharging professional pyrotechnic devices, the person in charge shall apply using documents containing the discharge time, location, quantity, origin of the professional pyrotechnic devices with the local competent authority 5 days prior to the day of discharging.
When discharging stage pyrotechnics less than a certain quantity, the person in charge shall report to the local competent authority for reference. However, if the discharged quantity is under the quantity announced by the central competent authority, the report may be omitted.
Before the professional pyrotechnic devices in the first two sections are transported out of the storage premises, the person in charge shall report to the competent authorities about the locations of storage premises, temporary storage yards, and discharging places. The professional pyrotechnic devices shall be placed in qualified temporary storage yards before being discharged.
The central competent authority shall formulate rules concerning the safest distance for discharging the professional pyrotechnic devices, the safest methods for discharging, the qualifications of discharging personnel, the quantity in section 2, and any other affairs to be regulated.
Article 17
Based on public safety and public peace needs, the local competent authority in a special municipality or county(city) may formulate the autonomous laws and regulations concerning designated additional restricted areas, times, firework types, operation methods, and operator certification for fireworks.
Article 18
The manufacturing, storage and selling premises containing 30 times more than the quantity announced by the central competent authority, the person in charge shall appoint a fireworks safety supervisor, designate him/her forming the safety plan, and report to local competent authority for reference; and perform the business necessary to the fireworks safety management of the safety plan. It will be also performed as the safety plan is revised.
The name of the fireworks safety supervisor shall be reported to the local competent authority within 15 days of selection or change.
The fireworks safety supervisor in the section 1 shall be trained by central competent authority or the professional institutes approved by itself, and unless the certificate of qualification is granted, he/she shall not be in the position of fireworks safety supervisor. Supervisor training must continue on a regular basis during the period of job, and the trainee shall sustain the training cost.
Article 19
In the case of nearby fire, other potentially deadly circumstances, or the appearance of smoke or peculiar odor or metamorphism from the fireworks in premises of fireworks manufacture, storage, or sales, the person in charge or fireworks safety supervisor shall immediately take the following safety measures:
1. Report the incident to the local fire department
2. Completely or partially cease the use of equipment located in the proximity of the area in question.
3. Transport products, semi-manufactured products or material of fireworks, away from the locations in the proximity of the area in question and to the safety locations.
Article 20
The person in charge of the premises for manufacturing fireworks, or of the storage premises containing fireworks reaching the controlled volume made by central competent authority, or of the importer of fireworks, or of the importer or seller of the Potassium Chlorate (KClO3) or Potassium Perchlorate (KClO4) exceeding the quantity announced by the central competent authority, shall hold the transporting in and out record concerning the products, semi-manufactured products or material of fireworks, and type, number , time, origin and whereabouts of Potassium Chlorate or Potassium Perchlorate for examination. The record shall be held at least 5 years, and the record of last month shall be reported to the local competent authority before the 15th of next month.
Article 21
The local competent authority may dispatch personnel to the premises of fireworks production, storage, or sales for the inspection of safety facilities, records, and other necessary figures. The examinees shall not evade, interfere or refuse the inspection. Inspectors may additionally pose questions to the person in charge or related employees and request them for further information.
Inspectors in the above section shall display voluntarily the documents concerning the performance of their duty and their identification information at all times while conducting the inspection, and may not obstruct the normal course of operations of the premises.
In the case of illegal manufacturing, storage, or the sale of fireworks, with evidence proving that there is the risk of jeopardizing public safety, the local competent authority may dispatch personnel to the violating industry for inspection or shutdown the operation.
The local competent authority may request support from police agencies for the inspection or shutdown operation referred to in the first and the above section of this Article.
Article 22
The person in charge of premises for manufacturing fireworks, for storage, or for the sale of fireworks exceeds the quantity announced by the central competent authority and of the premises discharging the professional pyrotechnic devices, shall maintain public liability insurance.
The benefits of the insurance and the enforcement date in the above section shall be announced by the central competent authority.
Article 23
The central competent authority shall formulate the rules concerning application, granting, cancellation, revocation, charging fee for approval of professional institutes, and any other affairs shall be regulated in the section 6 in Article 9 and section 3 in the Article 18.
Article 24
The person in charge for industries conducting firework manufacturing without a permit of manufacturing and the person who actually conducts the business, shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment under 3 years or detention and/or a fine more than NT$ 300,000 and under NT$ 3,000,000.
The person committing the crime in the above section that results in the death of another person, shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment more than 3 years and under 10 years and/or a fine more than NT$ 2,000,000 and under NT$ 10,000,000; resulting in the severe injury of another person, shall be sentenced to termed imprisonment more than 1 years and under 7 years and/or a fine more than NT$ 1,000,000 and under NT$ 5,000,000.
If the profit of illegal manufacture of fireworks in section 1 exceeds the highest limitation of the fine, the judge may increase the fine within the extent of the profit, in spite of the highest limitation of the fine.
Article 25
If ordered to stop manufacturing or business because of violating this act, and still continue manufacturing or business operations without permission, the enterprise shall be ordered to stop manufacturing or business immediately, and the person in charge of the enterprise shall be sentenced a term of imprisonment less than 2 years and/or a fine of less than NT$1,000,000.
Article 26
In any of the following situations in the subsections, the violator is subject to a fine of more than NT$600,000 and under NT$3,000,000.
1. Violate Article 19.
2. The legal manufacturer of fireworks provides material or semi-manufactured product for any other third party to manufacture or process outside the manufacturing premises allowed according to this act.
The violator will be asked to make improvements within a given period; without making improvements within the given period, the violator shall be fined for every given period and ordered to stop manufacturing and doing business.
Article 27
In any of the following situations in the subsections, the violator is subject to a fine of more than NT$300,000 and under NT$1,500,000.
1. The manufacturing, storage, or selling premises contain 30 times more than the quantity announced by the central competent authority and violate the regulations concerning the location structure of a facility in section 2 in Article 4.
2. Violates the section 1 or section 3 in the Article 7.
3. Besides the manufacturer, importer or retail dealer, if the provider violates the regulations in section 3 in Article 9 concerning the selling or exhibiting of general fireworks without attaching the approval symbol.
4. Violates section 4 in Article 9 concerning transporting the unqualified general fireworks which failed in individual approval out of the storage premises without permission of the central competent authority.
5. Violates section 2 in Article 10 concerning failure to recall general fireworks in the given term appointed by the central competent authority.
6. Violates section 1 or section 2 in Article 11, or section 1 in Article 14 or section 3 in Article 16.
7. The manufacturing premises, storage, or selling premises contain 30 times more than the quantity announced by the central competent authority and violate the regulations concerning the failure to maintain public liability insurance, or discontinuance the insurance after expiration, or terminating insurance agreement without justified reason, or failure to reach the insurance benefits announced by the central competent authority in Article 22.
In any of the situations in subsection 1 or subsection 7, the violator will be asked to make improvements within a given period; without making improvements within the given period, the violator shall be fined for every given period and ordered to stop manufacturing and doing business.
Article 28
In any of the following situations in the subsections, the violator is subject to a fine of more than NT$60,000 and under NT$300,000:
1. Storage or selling premises containing less than 30 times the quantity announced by the central competent authority and violates the rules concerning the regulation of location structure or facility in section 2 in Article 4.
2. Premises of manufacturing fireworks or the storage or selling premises reaching the controlled quantity made by the central competent authority, violates the rules concerning the regulations on safety management in section 2 in Article 4.
3. Violates the section 2 in Article 6.
4. Evade, interfere or refuse the inspection in section 5 in Article 9 or evade, interfere or refuse the inspection, questions demanding information or the clampdown in section 1 or section 3 in Article 21.
5. Violates section 3 in Article 11 or section 2 in Article 14.
6. Violates section 1 in Article 15.
7. Violates Article 20 concerning the failure to register relevant information, failure to hold records according to deadline for reserving and failure to report the record or report using false information.
8. Storage or selling premises contain less than 30 times the quantity announced by the central competent authority, the person in charge violates the regulations concerning the failure to maintain public liability insurance, or discontinuance of the insurance after expiration, or terminating an insurance agreement without a justified reason, or failure to reach the insurance benefits announced by the central competent authority in Article 22.
In any of the situations in the subsection 1, 2, 7 or subsection 8 in the above sections, violators will be asked to make improvements within a given period; without making such improvements after the given period, violators shall be fined for every given period and ordered to stop manufacturing and business.
In any of the situations in the subsection 4 or subsection 5 in the section 1, the violator will be fined for each violation and forced to accept an examination by the inspector.
Article 29
In any of the following situations in the subsections, the violator is subject to a fine of more than NT$30,000 but less than NT$150,000.
1. Violate section 2 in Article 7.
2. Besides the violator in subsection 3 section 1 in Article 27, violate section 3 in Article 9, selling or exhibiting the general fireworks without approval symbols.
3. Violate the rule concerning safety signs made according to the section 7 in Article 9.
4. Violate Article 12 or section 3 in Article 13.
5. Violate section 1 or section 2 in Article 16.
6. Violate the rule concerning safety method of discharging professional pyrotechnic devices or qualification of the discharging personal made according to section 4 in Article 16.
7. Violate the rule concerning area, time, type and method of discharging fireworks or qualification of discharging personnel made by the local competent authority according to Article 17.
8. Violate Article 18.
In the situation in subsection 8 of above section, the violator will be asked to make improvements within a given period; without improvements after that given period, the violator shall be fined for every given period and ordered to suspend or stop manufacturing.
Article 30
In any of the following situations in the subsections, the violator is subject to a fine of more than NT$3,000 and under NT$15,000.
1. Violate section 3 in Article 9 holding fireworks without an approval symbol, and exceed one-fifth of the controlled quantity made by the central competent authority.
2. Violate section 1 in Article 13.
Article 31
After importing or selling Potassium Chlorate (KClO3) or Potassium Perchlorate (KClO4) according to this act, but manufacturing fireworks without a permit, the central competent authority may order the violator to suspend importing or selling Potassium Chlorate (KClO3) or Potassium Perchlorate (KClO4) for a term longer than 1 year and under 5 years.
Importing fireworks according to this act, but violating the rules concerning the storage of fireworks made according to section 2 in Article 4 that result in a fire or explosive accident, the central competent authority may order the violator to suspend importing fireworks for a term longer than 1 year and under 5 years.
Importing or selling Potassium Chlorate (KClO3) or Potassium Perchlorate (KClO4) according to this act, but applying for a permit to import using false information and violating section 2 or section 3 in Article 7 or violate Article 20, the central competent authority may order the violator to suspend importing or selling Potassium Chlorate (KClO3) or Potassium Perchlorate (KClO4) for a term of more than 6 months and under 3 years.
The central competent authority may order violator suspend importing fireworks for a term of more than 1 month and under 1 years if any of the following situations in the subsections occurs when importing fireworks according to this act:
1. Apply for permit to import with false information.
2. Violate section 3 in Article 11 or section 2 in Article 14.
3. Violate section 3 in Article 16 and transport fireworks out of the premises without reporting to the competent authority for reference.
4. Violate Article 20; fail to report record to competent authority or report falsely.
Article 32
The products, semi-manufactured products, or material of the fireworks, manufactured, stored, unsealed, transported out of the storage premises, sold, discharged, held or exhibited against this act, or the instruments specific for manufacturing fireworks or for discharging the fireworks against this act, shall be confiscated by the local competent authority in spite of the ownership.
Article 33
The military’s usage of Potassium Chlorate (KClO3) or Potassium Perchlorate (KClO4) for fireworks, its manufacturing, importing and storage is not ruled by this act.
For fireworks handled by customs according to the laws, its storage is not ruled by this act.
Article 34
Enforcement Rules in this act will be formulated by the central competent authority.
Article 35
This act shall take effect on the date of promulgation.