Amsterdam city council’s efforts to overhaul the licence system for canal cruise boats have been shot out of the water now the Council of State has ruled against the plan.

The country’s highest administrative court said European legislation does not allow the council to limit to the number of licences awarded to carry passengers.

In April, the city handed out 135 10-year licences for boats longer than 14 metres in a complicated process. In particular the owners of characteristic canal boats were furious at the way their boats were judged in a ‘beauty contest’ and say dozens of boats which have been part of the city’s waterways for decades faced being banned.

City alderman Udo Kock said at the time the change been made necessary by EU rules.

However, the Council of State said that a limit on the number of boats is ‘not in the general interest’. The ruling, which cannot be appealed, means that the old licences remain valid until the city comes up with an alternative plan.

However, the old system, in which licences were awarded to tour companies for life, does infringe EU rules and needs to be changed, the Council of State said.

Tour operators welcomed the court’s decision but said the council does still need to take action. ‘I am curious how they will go about it and I hope that this time they will work with the companies,’ Ramon van der Storm of the Blue Boat Company told the Parool.

Some three million people take a canal cruise in Amsterdam every year.