Summary
3.The Act makes provision for the Secretary of State to make regulations (“fireworks regulations”) which are intended to regulate the supply and use of fireworks.
4.The existing powers of the Secretary of State to make regulations (“safety regulations”) under section 11 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 (“the 1987 Act”) are not adequate to deal with fireworks as those powers are limited to the supply (as opposed to the use) of consumer goods. The 1987 Act also contains provisions, such as those in section 10, relating to training courses that are incidental to the supply of fireworks.
5.As a consequence of the provisions of the Act relating to the making of fireworks regulations, certain provisions of the Explosives Act 1875 concerning the sale of gunpowder on highways, the sale of gunpowder to children, the packaging and labelling of gunpowder and the offence of throwing fireworks in a thoroughfare are superseded and therefore repealed by section 15 and the Schedule.