Cafes and bars which persist in breaking the ban on smoking risk being closed down for breaking competition laws, health minister Ab Klink is expected to announce today.

Tuesday’s AD reports that Klink will treat bar owners who are caught defying the ban for the third time as economic criminals because they are competing unfairly with cafes which are not breaking the law.
After being fined three times by health and safety inspectors, the public prosecution service will be informed, sources told the paper. The courts can then order ‘very high fines’ or that the premises be hammered shut. Licences can only be taken away on the order of the mayor, the paper says.
Klink is holding talks with the catering sector organisation Horeca Nederland on Wednesday to discuss growing resistance to the ban. Last weekend, cafe and bar owners in Den Bosch decided en masse to ignore it.
For more on Wednesday’s meeting, click here