No extra steps to tighten up smoking ban, says minister
Health minister Ab Klink is not planning to take any additional measures to makes sure cafes and bars comply with the ban on smoking, even though an estimated 41% of bar owners now allow smoking on their premises, the NRC reported on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the ministry said there is no reason to bring in ‘new policy’ to shore up the ban which is being increasingly ignored.
Only 35% of bars now have a sign saying they are smoke-free, compared with 54% in February, Bert Bieleman of research bureau Intraval told the paper.
Fines
Food and work safety inspectors are continuing to make spot checks but refuse to say how many fines and official warnings have been handed out in recent months, the paper says.
On April 6, all the country’s 15,000 cafes and bars were sent a letter by the health ministry reminding them to stick to the law.
In February, the high court ruled the ban on smoking in cafes and bars also applies to one-man operations without staff.
Lower courts had decided earlier that the ban did not apply to bars without staff, because the aim of the ban is to protect workers from second-hand smoke.
The cases against two cafes at the centre of the legal action will be heard again in June.
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