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Legislator cautions on fireworks
DANGEROUS ITEMS:
Lee Chen-nan warned the public against unsafe products, and said that regulations prohibited sales over the Internet
By Jean Lin
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Jan 30, 2006, Page 2
| Fireworks regulations |
| * Consumers cannot keep more than 25kgs of fireworks at any one time.
* Consumers can only keep up to 5kg of explosive powder.
* Fireworks and related products cannot be sold in a way in which the buyer's age cannot be known.
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A legislator warned the public ahead of yesterday's Lunar New Year to be careful when purchasing fireworks, since many have not passed safety inspections and are illegally sold online.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Chen-nan (李鎮楠) said on Thursday that fireworks imported from China were now easily obtained online, with advertisements encouraging large purchases for a lower price.
However, Lee said that according to the Fireworks Management Regulations (爆竹煙火管理條例), consumers cannot keep more than 25kg of fireworks at any given time, and the amount of explosive powder contained cannot surpass 5kg.
Lee said the fireworks sold online also breached Article 10 of the regulations, which stipulates that "products must not be sold in a way in which the age of the consumer cannot be known."
Article 11 stipulates that fireworks should not be sold to children less than 12 years of age, Lee said. Therefore, Web sites selling fireworks are illegal since it is impossible to verify customers' age, he added.
Lee and his assistant tried ordering firecrackers from a Web site and had the fireworks delivered to the Legislative Yuan. When the delivery truck arrived, the fireworks were labeled as "gifts" by the seller, endangering the truck driver and surrounding motorists' personal safety, Lee said.
An official from the National Fire Agency under the Ministry of the Interior said that consumers should only purchase fireworks and firecrackers that bear the ministry's safety inspection sticker.
The fireworks Lee ordered did bear the stickers, but they were sold in an illegal fashion, the agency official said.
The agency will cooperate with local police to probe the Web sites and find the sellers' addresses, in order to crack down on illegal fireworks and illegal sales methods, he said.
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