Overview
- The Higher Administrative Court in Schleswig-Holstein, ruling in an urgent proceeding, set aside the ordinance that would have prohibited all private fireworks on Föhr and Amrum.
- The court said sweeping prohibitions fall under the federal government’s exclusive authority over explosives law, not municipal competence.
- The Föhr-Amrum administration is preparing a narrow general order to limit fireworks similarly to past years while the main case proceeds.
- National policy remains unsettled, with interior ministers failing to agree on changes as the police union and a coalition of more than 50 groups call for a nationwide ban on private fireworks.
- Local, site-specific restrictions continue elsewhere, exemplified by Bassum’s 200‑meter exclusion zone around the Petermoor animal park with fines up to €10,000.