New Year’s Eve 2023
Setting off fireworks is prohibited here
© InfinitumProdux / Adobe Stock
Fireworks on New Year’s Eve: Some love it, others hate it. And just as opinions differ, so do the regulations across Germany. We give the overview.
If you drove past supermarkets yesterday and wondered if there was anything for free in the crowds, you were unfortunately wrong: it’s just the sale of Fireworks started. Igniting it is not allowed everywhere. What applies in the different parts of Germany?
Uniform nationwide
A nationwide minimum age of 18 is required to set off fireworks on New Year’s Eve. It is forbidden everywhere – always, even on New Year’s Eve – “in the immediate vicinity of churches, hospitals, children’s and retirement homes as well as particularly fire-sensitive buildings or facilities” The First Ordinance to the Explosives Act states that fireworks should be ignited. What other places look like varies from city to city.
There will also be many prohibited zones in 2023
In Hamburg As has been the case for years in the area around the Binnenalster and on the Rathausmarkt, only small fireworks, such as sparklers and firecrackers, are permitted.
Berlin organizes a New Year’s Eve party between the Victory Column and the Brandenburg Gate – for a fee, with entry control and without fireworks. In other parts of the city, setting off firecrackers etc. is permitted, but there is a large police presence to prevent riots.
The city Munich prohibits fireworks in the pedestrian zone from Marienplatz to Stachus and at the Viktualienmarkt. To protect historical buildings, among other things, there are prohibition zones Quedlinburg and throughout Bavariaaround the state palaces and castles.
In the Regensburg old town and Augsburg city center Not only are no fireworks allowed to be set off, but no pyrotechnics are allowed to be carried. In the latter, glass bottles and cans are also prohibited. It’s similar in Nurembergthere too no fireworks are allowed to be taken around the castle and there should even be bag checks.
For Mainz There is a ban on setting fires in the old town; fireworks are permitted in other parts of the city. On the main market in trier No firecrackers etc. may be lit.
Stuttgart plans to set up a no-fireworks zone in the city ring, including in Tübingen, Reutlingen and Constancy Local bans should apply.
On the Iron Bridge in Frankfurt am Main Controls are to take place this year in order to be able to enforce the fireworks ban.
In Cologne The city warns that no firecrackers etc. may be set off in the area of the city center on the left bank of the Rhine, otherwise you will face fines.
Dresden has 27 nature conservation prohibition zones, but there is no general ban on firecrackers in the rest of the city.
Cities without special prohibition zones
In Leipzig and Chemnitz There will be no ban on fireworks in 2023. Likewise in Erfurtalthough the old town there is already protected by the nationwide regulation.
Smaller towns like Gerbstedt, Braunsbedra or Jena also do not impose a general ban on setting off fireworks.
Sources used: tagesschau.de, gesetze-im-internet.de