The Maltese Pyrotechnics Association issued a statement urging the police to do away with useless bureaucracies and absurd demands to issue permits to let off fireworks during festa week.

In the same statement, the association called for more dialogue with the authorities to protect the endemic art of making fireworks.

“As the festa season is reaching a peak, the Pyrotechnics Association is having to meet new demands, which are inconsistent from one district to another. In some locations fireworks factories were expected to fill in forms and declarations which are not legally stipulated. These expectations are unjustified and in some instances illegal,” the association’s legal consultant, spokesperson and Labour MP, Michael Falzon explained.

The association appealed to the police to show good will and common sense rather than creating obstacles.

The unreasonable expectations are leading the fireworks manufacturers to experience unnecessary tension instead of enjoying a year’s work. The association condemned the government and fireworks inspectorate’s attitude towards the art of fireworks manufacturing and the association’s members.

The association highlighted that it took the government six months to organise a meeting with the inspectorate. The inspectorate in turn took two months to give a negative reply to the association’s request to organise a meeting between the inspectorate and the fireworks factories licensees.

This attitude from the inspectorate’s end does not augur well, they stated and questioned whether the authorities have a hidden agenda that would lead to the extinction of the award-winning Maltese way of making fireworks.