Netherlands - 1st court case for flouting smoking ban..

February 9, 2009 - AMSTERDAM - Dutch judges are closing a cafe for a month for allowing its patrons to smoke. It's the first case to be brought to court since smoking was banned in restaurants July 1, 2008. The court fined Brothers Gerhard and Ronald Sannes, owners of Cafe de Kachel in Groningen in the north of the country, euro1,200 ($1,535) after they ignored six warnings. The cafe had argued it was too small to provide a separate smoking area.

Small bars and cafes report business has fallen 30 percent since July. Many are reportedly defying the ban. Patrons and sympathizers marched Friday through Groningen to protest the legal action. Some draped themselves in the Dutch flag. The cafe put up notices before the hearing saying it would stay open 36 straight hours Friday and Saturday to mark the event.

Tougher penalties were introduced in October 2008, with inspectors given the power to issue on-the-spot fines of 300 euros for a first offence, followed by 600 euros for the second.

The Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority said in a statement this month that about 2,500 of the country's 11,000 bars were flouting the smoking ban.

Less than a quarter of the Dutch population of 16.4 million are smokers.

Reference: Dutch court closes pub for defying smoking ban, Asociated Press - MSNBC, 2/6/2009; Bar owners face fine for flouting Dutch smoking ban, EXPATICA.com - Dutch News, 2/7/2009.

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