Ali: Shops selling banned fireworks face fines of up to $25k

Listen to this article:

Digicel staff members enjoying the Diwali fever in their attire at their office in Nabua, Suva on Friday, October 25, 2019. Picture: JONACANI LALAKOBAU

ANY shop found selling banned fireworks without the required labels could face fines of up to $25,000, says Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism permanent secretary Shaheen Ali.

He said apart from the fine, owners could face three years imprisonment if found guilty.

Mr Ali said there were also on-the-spot fines of $2000 for traders selling banned fireworks and those without mandatory labels.

He added there had been a selective ban on the use of fireworks in place since 2004.

Mr Ali said the selective ban was in pursuant to Section 32 of the Act, which outlined a list of permitted and non-permitted fireworks that could be supplied and manufactured in Fiji.

“In 2005, the Trade Standards (Shopgoods Fireworks Labeling Standard) Order 2005 came into effect, which provides mandatory labelling requirements,” Mr Ali said.

“The standards require that all fireworks sold are labelled with warning, instruction of use and description of principal effects of the fireworks.”

Mr Ali said the ministry would be conducting inspections of retail outlets this week and this would continue over the long weekend to ensure compliance with the Act.

Array
(
    [post_type] => post
    [post_status] => publish
    [orderby] => date
    [order] => DESC
    [update_post_term_cache] => 
    [update_post_meta_cache] => 
    [cache_results] => 
    [category__in] => 1
    [posts_per_page] => 4
    [offset] => 0
    [no_found_rows] => 1
    [date_query] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [after] => Array
                        (
                            [year] => 2023
                            [month] => 12
                            [day] => 29
                        )

                    [inclusive] => 1
                )

        )

)

No Posts found for specific category