With only seven more days to the festival of lights, shops are being urged to comply with the regulations in terms of the purchasing and selling of approved fireworks.

Ministry for Lands and Mineral Resources Permanent Secretary Dr Raijeli Taga says this follows the issuance of spot fines to 14 shops last year for not adhering to the regulations in place.

Dr Taga says a total of 61 shops were licensed to sell fireworks last year, and out of the 44 that were inspected, 14 were non-compliant.

“Most of the issues were to do with the selling of old fireworks or the ones that weren’t permitted to be sold. I’ll just advise them to comply with the restrictions and the guidelines given, these are not goods to be played with or we have age restrictions for a purpose, it’s for the responsible use of fireworks because it can cause accidents, it can even be fatal, if not followed properly.”

Dr Taga says spot checks will continue this year to ensure shops adhere to the regulations in place.

A total of 61 shops were licensed to sell the approved fireworks last year, whereas three companies were licensed to import fireworks into the country.