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Smoking law to be tightened upMonday 06 July 2009 The law on smoking in cafes and bars is to be amended to remove a loophole allowing small cafes to ignore the ban, health minister Ab Klink said at the weekend. On Friday, the Leeuwarden appeal court ruled small cafe De Kachel did not have stop people smoking inside because the law does not ban smoking as such. Instead, the law states that cafes have to take steps to protect staff against smoking. But this cannot apply to cafes without staff, the court said. Earlier, the owner of cafe Victoria in Breda was found not guilty of breaking the law on the same grounds. Legal action 'We will take the court's ruling into account in the amendment,' Klink said after the ruling was published. 'We will not wait for a further appeal.' Small cafe owners now plan to take legal action to recover the thousands of euros they have paid in fines for breaking the ban and for loss of income, the AD reports. The small bar owners lobby group KHO, which has backing from the tobacco companies, claims turnover has gone down by an average 15% since the ban was introduced in July 2008. The total claim could be as high as €100m, the organisation estimates. Cafes and bars with staff are being warned that the court ruling does not apply to them and the ban remains in force, the AD says. Should small cafes be exempt from the ban on smoking? Take part in our poll
© DutchNews.nl
The notion that the local Dutch gemeente will have to refund millions in fines will make the courts reconsider their exception ruling for small cafes. In the end it seems to be more a money issue than a health one. By Buzzer | July 6, 2009 3:54 PM Yeah, tobacco's bad for you, but it's taxed, legal AND subsidised by the EU to the tune of €1bn per year, allowing the cigarette industry to make more money than they would otherwise. Until that gets dealt with, lawmakers here and elsewhere should stop screwing with the general public. If it was just a health issue they'd make cigarettes illegal, not pussyfoot around with this kind of nonsense. Oh but wait - lot of money in selling smokes, and banning cigarettes outright would curtail the rights of the tobacco industry to make bucketloads of cash (addicting and killing their customers). Can't have that! Better to make small businesses pay fines instead. Obviously. More government revenue that way, I presume. The mind boggles. By Stephen | July 6, 2009 4:05 PM we should get rid of tobacco all togerher and smoke marijuana, yea yea i know what you are thinking BUT you can smoke THC free stuff if needed, it tastes better, and it WONT kill you like tobacco coffeeshops must be exempt, sigh the right wing By adhd | July 6, 2009 6:16 PM It's completely disgusting, the whole filthy corrupt system. And so hypocritical - but we know all this - it's what life is about: capitalism that addicts and enslaves the consumer for optimum financial gain. By Lulu Bird | July 6, 2009 6:22 PM Stephen, it's a health issue, but they're not trying to protect the health of the smokers. They're (mostly) adults, they can decide what's best for them. They are trying to protect the health of the other patrons & employees of these bars. Is that so mind boggling? By Brian | July 6, 2009 7:39 PM Brian, Stephen raised relevant points that your response takes no account of. Smoking and how it should be dealt with is a closed subject to you. your opinion is clearly a mind set-in-stone. Anyway, time for a fag! By Kevin | July 7, 2009 7:45 PM Speaking as an American, it is amazing to me that a country that is famous for it's brown bars now wants to ban smoking in these establishments. You might as well outlaw tulips, windmills, and wooden shoes also. By william | July 8, 2009 1:31 AM
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The only thing you should be able to smoke in the Netherlands, is Marijuana. Cigarettes are disgusting, bad for those who smoke them, and bad for those who have to inhale what smokers exhale. BAN ALL SMOKING!
By jj blood | July 6, 2009 10:37 AM