NETHERLANDS
Small bars exempt from smoking ban

A Dutch appeals court ruled Tuesday that small bars with no staff except their owners are exempted from a national smoking ban introduced for the hospitality industry in July 2008, reports AFP.

The appeals court of Den Bosch, in the southern Netherlands, found two owners of the Victoria cafe in Breda, near the Belgian border, not guilty of having contravened the ban. "The court finds that the [ban] is partly non-binding, as it lacks legal grounding" regarding establishments with no staff, said a court statement. The appeal court also ruled that small bars like Café Victoria faced unfair competition as a consequence of the smoking ban.
Court spokesman JJ van der Kaaden told AFP that Tuesday's ruling would apply to all small cafes and bars that employed no staff. But its application was frozen by an announcement by prosecutors that they intended appealing the verdict in the Supreme Court. This could last 18 months.
The verdict was welcomed by campaigning organisations representing small bars and restaurants without staff. Several thousand small bars and cafes in the Netherlands united late last year to flaunt the smoking ban and create a joint legal defence fund, arguing they lacked the floor space and money to erect separate smoking-only areas. A recent Dutch health ministry study found that 62 per cent of Dutch cafes saw a drop in business in October and November 2008, compared with a year earlier, on account of the smoking ban.
The ban on smoking in the hotel, restaurant and catering industry had sought to protect staff from the dangers of second-hand smoke inhalation. (pi)

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