Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Firework ban initiative gets 100,000 signatures

fireworks
The intitative proposes restrictions to protect animals and humans. © Ti-press

More than 100,000 people have approved and signed a popular initiative calling for restriction of fireworks to combat air pollution and nuisance.

There is therefore a good chance that the initiative will succeed and be put to a vote, reports Swiss public broadcaster RTS.

“Fireworks are a source of stress for people who are sensitive to noise or who want to spend a relaxing evening outdoors. They cause panic among young children and animals,” argues the committee of the popular initiative “For a limitation of fireworks” on its website.

The text calls for private individuals to be banned from setting off fireworks “that cause noise” on  August 1 (Swiss National Day) and New Year’s Day. The aim is to protect humans and animals from excessive noise pollution.

The initiators announced on their website on Friday that they had received 101,615 signatures, of which 83,360 had been authenticated. For an initiative to be put to the vote in Switzerland, 100,000 valid signatures are required.

Corinne Meister, a member of the committee, told RTS that the collection of signatures was continuing.

Exceptional authorisations

Loud fireworks would only be permitted at supra-regional events.

The initiative committee says it is supported by several environmental and animal protection organisations, Pro Natura, Greenpeace Switzerland and the Noise League.

It intends to submit the text to Bern at the end of October to meet the deadline.

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here. 

External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Daily news

Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox.

Daily

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.



Coming soon Lost Cells A podcast uncovering the human stories behind private stem cell banking's promises and failures. Get notified

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Grand Prix Art for art casters, artists and architects

More

Winners of top Swiss art award announced

This content was published on Felix Lehner, Pamela Rosenkranz and Miroslav Sik have been awarded the Swiss Grand Award for Art/Prix Meret Oppenheim 2025.

Read more: Winners of top Swiss art award announced
Watch exports down 2.8% in 2024

More

Swiss watch exports down 2.8% in 2024

This content was published on The watch industry had to contend with a weakening of its exports last year, which reached a volume of CHF25.9 billion ($28.5 billion).

Read more: Swiss watch exports down 2.8% in 2024

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR