Puyango prohibits high-impact fireworks and fines up to two salaries

The Municipal Council of Puyango approved the Ordinance to regulate and limit the use of high-impact pyrotechnics in the Puyango canton, which prohibits the use and commercialization of devices with high sound impact in public and private activities and sets fines of up to two unified basic salaries. The regulation was sanctioned by Mayor José Ignacio Vivar Jara on September 14, 2026, at 14:00, in Alamor, and was published in the Official Registry Special Edition No. 1670 on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, page 36.

The ordinance was discussed and approved in two debates: extraordinary session No. 0040-2026 on Thursday, July 2, 2026, and ordinary session 0135-2026 on Tuesday, September 8, 2026. The text was signed by Mayor José Ignacio Vivar Jara and by the general secretary of the Autonomous Decentralized Municipal Government of Puyango, Nora Velásquez Guerrero, and certified by the Council Secretariat on September 9, 2026.

The statement of motives invokes articles 14, 32, 35, 66, and 264 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador, the Organic Code of Territorial Organization, Autonomy and Decentralization (COOTAD), the Organic Health Law, and the Organic Environmental Code. The document warns that pyrotechnic explosions can exceed 120 decibels and cites warnings from the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding auditory alterations, sleep disorders, stress, and anxiety, with a special impact on girls, boys, older adults, people with disabilities, and people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Prohibition and exceptions

The use of fireworks or pyrotechnics with high sound impact is prohibited in civic, cultural, religious, sporting, and any other activities carried out in public and private spaces of the canton. The regulation defines high-sound-impact pyrotechnics as including, among others:

• Noise bombs and firecrackers.
• Pyrotechnic cannons and rockets with sound charges.
• Rockets, missile launchers, and mortars.
• Cakes, firecrackers, thunder-claps, “tumbacasas,” and flyers.

Only the manufacture and commercialization of low-sound-impact pyrotechnics are permitted, in establishments with a Single License for Economic Activities (LUAE). Exceptions are made for devices intended for the Armed Forces, the National Police, and complementary security institutions, as well as pyrotechnics that produce only silent luminous phenomena. The sale of any pyrotechnic item to girls, boys, and adolescents is also absolutely prohibited, as is the use of pyrotechnics inside closed establishments without authorization from the Alamor Fire Department.

Fines and sanctions

The sanctioning regime is processed through the Municipal Commissariat and distinguishes three levels:

• Minor infractions: fine of 50% of one unified basic salary for acquiring, handling, or using unauthorized pyrotechnic articles.
• Serious infractions: fine of one unified basic salary for marketing unauthorized pyrotechnics.
• Very serious infractions: fine of two unified basic salaries for storing pyrotechnics without authorization, using them in closed premises without permission from the Fire Department, distributing or selling them without authorization, or selling them to minors.

Recidivism is punished with double the fine, and in cases of unlicensed manufacture or marketing, the immediate removal of the product also applies, with transport and destruction coordinated with the Public Force. Natural persons declared offenders for minor faults may extinguish the fine totally or partially through community service.

Control, deadlines, and transition

The Municipal Commissariat will coordinate continuous inspection operations with the National Commissariat, with priority during year-end festivities and mass celebrations. Animal welfare organizations, representatives of priority care groups, and the artisanal and industrial productive sector may participate in the brigades.

The transitional provisions establish:

• 90 days from the effective date for training and citizen awareness campaigns.
• A semi-annual reduction of 25% in the use of high-impact pyrotechnics, notified to associations, guilds, and religious congregations.
• The start of sanctioning processes three months after the effective date, following the educational campaign.
• A maximum period of two years to migrate completely to the use of low-sound-impact pyrotechnics or luminous alternatives.

Additionally, the Environmental Management Directorate must present a report on the impact of the ordinance to the Council during the first week of January each year, and the Decentralized Autonomous Government of the Puyango canton will commemorate World Autism Awareness Day every April 2nd using only authorized pyrotechnics in its festivities.

The measure directly affects pyrotechnics merchants and residents of the canton, who must adjust their sales and celebrations to the new product classification, within the context of preparations for year-end festivities. The text relies on the Ecuadorian Technical Regulation RTE INEN 229 to classify new unforeseen devices, so that the restriction extends to any high-acoustic-intensity product that appears on the market.

Source: Official Registry, Special Edition No. 1670, Tuesday, September 29, 2026, p. 36 (official reference: Ordinance to regulate and limit the use of high-impact pyrotechnics in the Puyango canton).