At the opening session of the Iberian seminar on explosive products, organised by the Arms and Explosives Department of the Public Security Police (PSP), Antero Luís also said that a new regulation is in the legislative process to establish new "rules for the availability, introduction, possession and use of substances or preparations that can be misused in the illicit manufacture of explosives," following European standards.

According to the minister, these European standards "aim to harmonise rules to limit public access to such substances and to ensure that suspicious transactions, disappearances and thefts, throughout the supply chain, are duly reported to the respective national authorities".

"The legislative framework on explosives and pyrotechnic articles, spread over several diplomas, some of which are more than 30 years old, besides the inherent outdatedness in relation to the current reality of the sector and other related legal instruments, creates some difficulty in harmonising with the most recent EU legislation," said the Secretary of State.

According to the secretary of State, the evolution in the licensing processes inherent to the operationality of this sector of activity, along with the framework of the activity itself, "are areas that deserved detailed attention and that will be object of a new approach, compatible with the current state of the art of the sector at a European level".

In this sense, he revealed that the government is preparing a review of the legal framework for explosives with the aim of "creating an articulated and harmonious legal instrument that meets the licensing and supervision requirements for the safe development of activities that rely on the use of explosive substances.

For the governor, this new legal framework, which will repeal eight diplomas, "strengthens the supply chain information, control mechanisms at the time of sale and transactions of explosive substances.

During the seminar, which was attended by representatives from PSP and the Spanish Guardia Civil, the Secretary of State also addressed the issue of security, which is a "major concern" in the area of pyrotechnics and explosive substances, particularly in handling, transport, transactions and use.

Antero Luís drew attention to the "risks associated with misuse" in the context of pyrotechnic devices, which in Portugal assumes "more worrying contours in the sports phenomenon", considering that "it is urgent to fight".

"We are not only talking about the trafficking of these explosive products, but also in the prevention of accidents related to their use, and also in their action that promotes violence, particularly in phenomena associated with sport", he said.

Antero Luís also stressed that "the improper use of these banned substances assumes, at European level, not insignificant contours within the framework of the fight against terrorism", thus imposing preventive action "as a golden rule, not only for the authorities, but for all those working in this sector".

According to the minister, in Portugal there are four explosives factories, 30 pyrotechnical workshops, five fuse and powder workshops, six cartridge loading workshops, 117 fixed and mobile armouries, 90 storage facilities and 61 warehouses.

These establishments are licensed to operate explosive substances and, on the other hand, there are 1950 persons accredited to operate explosives and gunpowder and 2303 to launch fireworks, most of them being micro and small enterprises.

The seminar addresses the existing legal regimes in Portugal and Spain in the area of explosives, as well as analysing the conclusions of the scientific study, prepared by the University of Coimbra for the PSP, on the causes and consequences of accidents with explosive products occurred in Portugal in the last 20 years and the prevention of accidents in this area.