Over 40% of consumer fireworks were rejected for the Dutch market this year

Some 40.9 percent of F2-class consumer fireworks were rejected for the Dutch market this year during testing by the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT). That is the highest percentage in recent years, the office said on Friday.

Last year, the inspectorate rejected 20.5 percent of F2 fireworks, the strongest class of fireworks legally sold to consumers in the Netherlands during the final days of December, with sales allowed this year on December 28, 30 and 31. In 2022, the rejection rate was 20 percent.

“Cutting back on safety and quality to increase profit margins is conniving behavior and results in unnecessary risks for the consumer,” said Reinder Auwema of the Inspectorate. He spoke of an “exceptionally high rejection” rate that is very worrisome. Auwema said that the required paperwork for many products is often in order, but during testing, all sorts of issues crop up, and use of the product often goes awry.

The inspection took a look at the most risky products in the F2 category every year. This year, 181 different products were tested. Of these, 74 were rejected for various reasons, such as the fireworks toppled over, did not work as intended, exploded, or because burning embers landed more than eight meters away.

Importers must remove the rejected fireworks from the market and have them destroyed at their own expense. This only concerns the batch specifically tested by the ILT. The same product from another batch that has not been rejected may still be sold. The ILT also encountered a problem with another 12.7 percent of the fireworks tested, but this was not serious enough to reject the products.

The inspection rejected almost all products from one specific importer. This is a company that is not a member of the national trade association. The name of the importer was not revealed.

But the ILT also said that it did not see any improvement among companies that are members of the trade association. “The Dutch fireworks sector has enough knowledge and expertise to ensure that fireworks are safe and function as intended. We expect the sector to learn lessons from previous years, and to have the capacity” to adquately handle matters on their own.

It was already clear earlier that the ILT also saw more issues with children’s fireworks. like sparklers. During checks, the Inspectorate rejected 65 percent of these F1 fireworks this year.