Over 200 municipalities refuse fireworks exemptions for New Year's Eve
Three in five Dutch municipalities will not grant exemptions to the national fireworks ban, so no one may set off fireworks there on New Year's Eve.
As of Monday, 202 municipalities (gemeenten) had announced that they will not grant exemptions to the national fireworks ban for New Year's Eve. That is three in five municipalities in the Netherlands, and in each of them people may not set off fireworks at the turn of the year.
Why it matters
- In more than 200 municipalities, people may not set off fireworks at the turn of the year.
- Associations in those municipalities will not get an exemption from the national ban.
The national ban allows municipalities to grant exemptions to associations (verenigingen). Most municipalities have decided not to use that option.
The municipalities that have refused include Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Utrecht, Groningen, Almere, Apeldoorn, Enschede, Zwolle, Maastricht, Den Bosch and Leeuwarden.
gemeenten
Gemeenten are the municipalities, the local governments of the Netherlands, each run by a mayor (burgemeester) and an elected council (gemeenteraad). They handle local matters such as housing, waste collection, and local permits. In this article, the term means the municipal authorities that can decide whether to allow exemptions to the national fireworks ban in their area.