Mortars have not finished talking about them.
“Suspicious” sales of these pyrotechnic devices sometimes used as weapons, will now have to be reported to the Interior Ministry, according to a decree published on Monday.
The Official Journal stipulates that "any business guilty of not reporting suspicious transactions will henceforth be liable to a 5th class fine, ie a fine of 1,000 euros".
The decree also specifies what constitutes the suspicious nature of a sale.
A report must be made "immediately after the attempted transaction", if the customer "refuses to prove his identity", "refuses to specify the use he intends to make" of the fireworks, buys "quantities unusual ”, that he insists on paying in cash, or wishes to acquire“ unusual items for the intended use ”.
Traders have a maximum of 72 hours to report this information to the Ministry of the Interior.
They will also have to keep a register of their sales for the last 18 months available to the police and the gendarmerie.
Before New Years
Published a few days before New Year's Eve, during which the police are each year the target of fireworks, this decree is the translation of measures voted in May in the Global Security law.
This law also provides for prohibiting the sale of fireworks mortars to the general public, punishing with six months' imprisonment traders who agree to sell them to non-professionals.
After the fireworks mortar attack on the Champigny-sur-Marne police station (Val-de-Marne) in October 2020, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin announced his desire to legally prohibit sale to the public of these pyrotechnic devices, very easily accessible on the Internet.
"Weapons by destination"
The fireworks mortars are "weapons by destination", he had estimated.
“They can hurt, they can kill and today we must stop this sale on the Internet, this sale which is not intended for professionals and that we penalize it.
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Read also Mantes-la-Jolie: two high school students from Jean-Rostand arrested for mortar fire and attempted fire
In early December, two students from a high school in Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines) were arrested after fireworks were fired which had targeted the establishment.
These incidents had created a strong emotion among the teaching staff who had threatened to exercise their right of withdrawal.