Criminal handling of violations related to fireworks

(Baonghean) - The end of the year is a sensitive time for many people to seek profit from trading, producing, and transporting fireworks and firecrackers.

The subject who bought and sold fireworks was discovered and arrested by the police.

In recent years, from the operational efficiency of agencies and departments, with the main role being the police force, many illegal cases involving fireworks have been discovered, showing that the situation of transporting, buying, selling, and producing all kinds of fireworks is still "hot" and shows no signs of cooling down.

For the purpose of profit, these subjects will use all means to smuggle fireworks into Vietnam for consumption. However, in recent times, handling by criminal law the acts of illegal production, trading, transportation, and storage of fireworks and firecrackers has encountered many difficulties due to entanglement in the provisions of legal documents.

According to Decree No. 59/2006/ND-CP of the Government detailing the 2005 Law on Commerce, "fireworks of all kinds" are on the list of prohibited goods for trading; Joint Circular No. 06/2008 between the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People's Procuracy, and the Supreme People's Court guiding the prosecution of criminal liability for acts of illegal production, trading, transportation, storage, and use of firecrackers and explosives and drugs also clearly states that acts of illegal trading, transportation, and storage of firecrackers with a quantity of 10kg or more or less, but have been administratively sanctioned, will be prosecuted for criminal liability.

However, according to the provisions of the Investment Law 2014, “fireworks of all kinds” are included in the list of “conditional investment and business sectors”. Therefore, the Investment Law 2014 and the Commercial Law 2005 have overlapping subjects of regulation.

Nghe An is one of the complicated areas for crimes related to firecrackers. In recent times, many cases of firecrackers have been discovered and handled by Nghe An authorities. However, the criminal handling of firecracker cases also faces many difficulties.

Traffic Police (Ministry of Public Security) coordinated with Provincial Traffic Police to arrest a case of transporting nearly 100 kg of firecrackers.

Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau - Director of the Provincial Police Department said: "In Nghe An, there are up to 26 cases that the court is about to bring to trial and must postpone the trial. At the same time, the People's Procuracy at two levels of Nghe An also did not approve the decision to initiate a case, prosecute or extend the detention of subjects trading in explosives that have sufficient elements to constitute a crime according to the provisions of Joint Circular No. 06/2008/TTLT-BCA-VKSNDTC-TANDTC".

Faced with such shortcomings, in order to remove difficulties and obstacles in legal regulations on handling violations of fireworks, on November 22, 2016, the 14th National Assembly passed the law amending and supplementing Article 6 and Appendix 4 of the 2014 Investment Law on the list of conditional investment and business sectors (effective from January 1, 2017).

Accordingly, firecrackers are prohibited from trading and have been removed from the list of conditional business lines; at the same time, the draft Law on Amendments and Supplements to a number of articles of the 2015 Penal Code has also added provisions on criminal handling of acts of manufacturing, trading, storing, and transporting firecrackers of all kinds in quantities of 6kg or more.

To better meet the requirements of the fight against crime in general, and violations related to firecrackers and fireworks in particular, on December 9, 2016, the Director of the Provincial Police, the Chief Prosecutor of the Provincial People's Procuracy, and the Chief Justice of the People's Court of Nghe An province issued Inter-sectoral Official Dispatch No. 2153/HDLN-CA-VKS-TA on instructions for handling violations related to firecrackers and fireworks.

Accordingly, for acts of illegal production, trading, transportation, and storage of firecrackers and explosives that have just been discovered or have been discovered but not yet handled, if there are sufficient elements to constitute a crime, criminal liability will be prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of the current Penal Code and Joint Circular No. 06/2008/TTLT-BCA-VKSNDTC-TANDTC dated December 25, 2008 of the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People's Procuracy, and the Supreme People's Court guiding the prosecution of criminal liability for acts of illegal production, trading, transportation, and storage of firecrackers and explosives.

For cases of production, storage, transportation, and trading of prohibited goods such as firecrackers and fireworks, and the Procuracy has prosecuted under Article 155 of the Penal Code, the People's Courts at two levels have temporarily suspended the cases according to the content of Official Dispatch No. 06/TANDTC-PC dated January 26, 2016 of the Supreme People's Court. When the Law on Amendments and Supplements to Article 6 and Appendix 4 of the 2014 Investment Law comes into effect (January 1, 2017), the People's Courts at all levels will bring the temporarily suspended cases to trial and continue to accept new cases according to the provisions of law.

Mr. Tuan