There are today two different main permits concerning the lower permit liability level for the handling of explosive goods.
Permit for acquisition and possession
This permit is issued by the local police authority for all so-called 154 approved fireworks with electrical ignition as well as other fireworks without electrical ignition that, for different reasons, require a permit depending on their construction or quantity of explosive material.
The police provide a special form and this form is available in paper form at the local police authority or can be downloaded from the Internet and on this page you can also find the icon to the police’s home page. This form has the denomination RPS 587.1.01-10.
The legislation today is not as clear as daylight with respect to the competence requirements that shall be defined in order that you may obtain a permit for acquisition and possession. In any case, the police will investigate your personal suitability and if you have, for example, a serious criminal background it is not likely that a permit can be issued. Petty offences such as mild speeding, parking fines, etc, are not regarded as crimes, but as offences and are not registered in the criminal register.
In order to obtain a permit for the handling of fireworks it is also required that you have satisfactory knowledge and previous experience of the handling, with or without a permit, is regarded as a merit. If you have no previous experience then a training certificate from us is sufficient for an individual firework but if you want a permit that entitles you to purchase more than a certain type of firework then, normally speaking, training is required and our company can provide it. See further information about this under the icon, courses.
When it is time for the permit application the normal procedure is that the permit in question is applied for three years and normally it requires some type of storage device/cupboard for the actual fireworks. This cupboard shall be of fire class, lowest EI 30, and if you wish to store more powerful fireworks a better fire class can be required. It does not necessarily need to be a cupboard and if there is access to a cellar, container, etc, this can be sufficient. Prior to the permit application we recommend the applicant to contact the permit authority and the body to which the application is referred for consideration and this is the local rescue committee/rescue service.
The permit can be applied for example, for maximum 5 kg net weight pyrotechnics and this permit costs 200 kronor that shall be paid in advance to the police authority and applies for a so-called smaller consumption store.
In some police districts they prefer that you use a form with the heading “Consumption store for pyrotechnical goods and ammunition” and this permit is somewhat more expensive and instead costs 500 kronor.
There are also permits that are issued for immediate use which means that you collect your fireworks at the factory and use them the same day. Here, however, there can be problems with the storage of possible duds, if they cannot be immediately returned. According to the legislation, it shall be possible to put duds under lock and key because they are regarded as live until they are destroyed.
The company would also like to inform the reader that a degree of uncertainty prevails among certain police authorities with regard to the handling of this type of matter since the National Police Board today, according to the company’s opinion, does not provide sufficient training for the administrators in question and this of course is not necessarily the National Police Board’s responsibility.
If there is uncertainty regarding your permit application please contact the company.
Permit for fireworks
In order to use fireworks both indoors and outdoors a permit according to the local municipal regulations can be required. This permit is applied for with the local police authority and costs approximately 500 kronor, an amount that shall be paid in advance to the authority.
There are some cases where a permit is always required and this is when larger quantities of fireworks will be used. In certain municipalities a permit is also required when fireworks are to be fired from a general or public place. What is regarded as a general or public place can be answered by the municipal engineer or the police.
Using fireworks on private ground that can be a private site/garden, etc is on the other hand never liable for a permit even if it lies within a town planning or heavily populated area. On the other hand, it does not say that one can use fireworks unlimited and as much as possible just because an area is private and therefore not liable for a permit.
According to regulations, a private person shall firstly go through a suitability investigation before being able to use fireworks. This suitability investigation can consist of an analysis of the fireworks’ possibility of causing considerable inconvenience to people. Considerable inconvenience can mean disturbing people or animals in an unacceptable way.
A person who plans to use fireworks must firstly go through this suitability investigation and if there is any uncertainty about the existence of inconvenience or not, we recommend the reader to always apply for a permit for the use of fireworks according to regulations even if according to the legislation, it is really not required.
It can be a cunning idea, at least in Sweden, to apply for a permit that you don’t need and get a permit approved since Swedish legislation tradition differs from European legislation tradition where the opinion on the State’s infallibility is concerned. I mean that if something unintentional should happen in connection with the use of fireworks and you have an approved police permit the judicial authorities, in the event of an investigation, should place greater responsibility on the authority that approved the permit than on the individual in the possible question of responsibility if it becomes apparent that the authority should have presupposed possible risks – risks that the individual could not have reasonably presupposed. On the other hand I will repeat that one cannot use fireworks how one likes, just because one has a permit. Great responsibility always rests on the individual and there are many applicable charges that can be referred to in the event of incidents in connection with fireworks, such as, for example, causing bodily harm, negligence consisting of a public danger, destruction consisting of a public danger, etc.
A fireworks permit is nearly always accompanied by an appendix from the police authority where the authority can convey special conditions in connection with the use of fireworks and these conditions are important to follow. There is reason here to offer a warning since certain permit appendices contain errors and incorrect instructions.
If you have any possible questions arising from the permit appendices that you receive from the authority you may have reason to contact the administrator concerning the accuracy of the issued instructions.
