Shanghai's fire department said Monday that people buying fireworks and firecrackers for the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations will have to register their identities.
Customers need to provide their names, identity card numbers, addresses and phone numbers, and note the specific products that they are purchasing, news portal thepaper.cn reported on Tuesday.
Firework stores will be given registry books to collect all the information at the same time they receive their business licenses from the fire department. According to the report, Shanghai authorities started to issue business licenses to fireworks stores in the city on Monday.
The kinds of fireworks and firecrackers which each store is permitted to sell are listed on each license. The licenses also note that each store should employ at least three staff members that have received fire training. All the licenses will expire after the Spring Festival.
The Shanghai fire department claimed that this year that in 10 of the city's districts only 84 stores obtained business licenses, and this number will reduce in the future.
Letting off fireworks and firecrackers within the city's Outer Ring Road was banned in Shanghai from January 1 onwards following the rolling out of the "strongest ever smoking ban" in the city.
It is traditional in China to welcome in the lunar New Year with firecrackers and fireworks, the noise of which is said to fend off evil spirits and bad luck. Celebrations usually start on the eve of the lunar New Year, frequently resulting in accidents including burns and fires. In 2015, 54 people were injured by fireworks and firecrackers during the festival, said the Xinhua News Agency.
