The owners of a small cafe in Groningen have been found not guilty of breaking the ban on smoking, news agency ANP reports on Friday.

In February, the owners of the Kachel cafe had been fined €1,200 and threatened with closure for allowing smoking on the premises.
The appeal court ruling is the second blow to health minister Ab Klink’s efforts to stamp out smoking in cafes and bars. The ban was introduced a year ago.
Earlier this year, the appeal court in Den Bosch also found the owners of another small cafe in Breda not guilty of breaking the ban.
That court said there are ‘no clear legal grounds for introducing and upholding such a ban in small cafes and bars’.
And that means the tobacco law which came into effect in July 2008 does not apply to small cafes without employees, the paper quoted the court as saying .
A lower court had ruled the current legislation discriminates against cafes which do not have staff.
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