Clean Air Nederlands has asked the courts to ban smoking areas still existing in 25% of bars in the Netherlands.
While smoking has been banned since 2008 in Dutch cafes, restaurants and other pubs, bars over 70 m2, of which the manager is the only worker, have the right to have a closed area intended for smokers, where it is forbidden to drink and be served, therefore less attractive than the rest of the coffee. These spaces often look like large, glass-enclosed aquariums, like those found in some airports.
In one year, the number of these coffees has increased by 6%, from 19% in 2014 to 25% in 2015: " This does not solve the problem, on the contrary“, Floris Van Galen, lawyer for Clean Air Nederlands (“ clean air Netherlands ”), told AFP on Thursday. " We have a smoking ban, but if there are more and more smoking areas, people will see others smoking and young people will be tempted to go in and start smoking.“, He underlined Thursday at the opening of the trial at the court of The Hague, in which the association assigns the State.
He denounced at the hearing an exception, set up by the Netherlands, which tends to become " permanent bases". But according to lawyers defending the Dutch state, “ 100% of public places without cigarettes, that's the end goal": The framework convention for tobacco control (CCLAT) of the World Health Organization (WHO)" also says it is a process"
« People can get to these places today without being bothered by cigarette smoke and that is the important point.“Said lawyer Bert-Jan Houtzagers, stressing that no deadline has been set for a complete ban.
The Hague tribunal is expected to deliver its judgment within six weeks. Entered into force in February 2005, the WHO FCTC has been signed by 168 states, including the Netherlands in 2005.
Source : Voaafrique.com
