display

The Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Lüneburg has overturned central regulations of the fireworks ban in Lower Saxony.

In its decision published on Friday, the court found the comprehensive ban on fireworks anchored in Lower Saxony's Corona Ordinance is not an objectively necessary infection protection measure that may be prescribed on the basis of the Infection Protection Act.

Fireworks by professional organizers, however, remain banned in Lower Saxony even after the OVG decision.

According to the court, the fireworks ban in Lower Saxony, which has now been temporarily suspended, comprised all types of fireworks - from small and youthful fireworks such as sparklers, snap peas and table fireworks to small fireworks and large fireworks that require a permit.

A comprehensive ban on all types of fireworks and other pyrotechnic objects is not necessary, the court found.

display

For example, sparklers, snap peas and table fireworks “have no potential to provoke infection-relevant gatherings in a large number of people, and hardly any potential to cause any significant number of treatments that require hospital treatment,” the court said.

The “simple prevention of pleasures that can only be judged subjectively” is not a legitimate aim of state action.

Court: Restrict the ban to certain places

The court also assessed the nationwide validity of the fireworks ban as not necessary.

A risk of infection-relevant gatherings of a larger number of people can be effectively prevented in the same way by restricting the prohibition to those places where this assumed risk exists at all or at least typically.

With its decision, the Lüneburg court upheld a man from a Lower Saxony community who had appealed against the ban on fireworks with a legal review application.