October the 9th, 2026 – The Friends of Animals (Prijatelji životinja) Association is seeking a ban on all loud pyrotechnics in Croatia after the Netherlands set the ball rolling.
Friends of Animals have called on the Croatian Government to further restrict the use of loud pyrotechnics, after the Netherlands banned citizens from buying, possessing and using category F2 and F3 pyrotechnic products from the 1st of August this year. Index reports that in Croatia, firecrackers and string firecrackers from those categories have been banned for personal use since 2021, but other F2 and F3 products are still permitted under prescribed conditions. The association is demanding that the ban be extended to all category F2 and F3 pyrotechnics whose main effect is a strong explosion and noise.
“It isn’t logical to ban one product because of the noise and allow others that produce an equally strong or even stronger bang, just because they are not called a firecracker but, for example, an aerial bomb,” said Snježana Klopotan Kačavenda from Friends of Animals.
According to the association, the Dutch ban covers entire categories F2 and F3 for private users, while citizens still have access to category F1 pyrotechnics, which pose a very low risk and produce negligible noise. Professional fireworks remain possible under special conditions, and exceptions can be approved for some organised New Year’s celebrations. Friends of Animals believe that such a model would reduce the number of injuries, fires, material damage, noise and stress for people and animals.
The association has already proposed amendments to the Act on Explosive Substances and the Production and Trade of Weapons to the Ministry of the Interior. In addition to the ban on loud category F2 and F3 pyrotechnics, they are demanding that the use of the remaining permitted pyrotechnics for citizens be limited to only two hours around midnight on New Year’s Eve. They also propose that sales be allowed only on the 29th, 30th and 31st of December, that advertising of pyrotechnics and their sale in mixed-goods stores be banned, and that places of use and the number of public fireworks displays be further restricted.
Friends of Animals state that their petition for a ban on loud pyrotechnics has so far been supported by more than 40,000 citizens. “Croatia already has experience with the ban on firecrackers, a concrete proposal for amendments to the law and more than 40,000 citizens’ signatures for a ban on loud pyrotechnics,” the association concluded.
