THE HAGUE, 19/11/08 - Health Minister Ab Klink is trying to prevent anarchy among cafes by announcing that they will be closed down if they ignore the smoking ban.

If a cafe allows smoking, this is unfair competition, according to Klink, who therefore wants to make ignoring the smoking ban an economic offence. "I do not want to allow any misunderstanding over the fact that the cabinet is in earnest. In this country, laws have to be obeyed and that applies to everyone," he said in a letter to parliament yesterday.

Currently, a cafe violating the smoking ban, introduced on 1 July, is fined 300 euros. The fine is continually doubled for subsequent offences, up to a maximum of 2,400 euros. Klink now intends to broaden the sanction policy via criminal law.

Fining will continue, but after more than two offences, the Public Prosecutor's Office (OM) will be brought in. The OM can then ask a court to remove the cafe operator's licence and temporarily close the cafÈ, Klink announced.

More and more pubs are ignoring the smoking ban. Pubs that obediently stick to the rules see their clients leave to go to cafes that allow smoking. The obedient cafes therefore also become dissidents.

In Den Bosch, all cafes in the town centre have decided to put their ashtrays back on the tables. They are calling on other towns to follow their example. They are finding support, particularly among small cafes, which are holding a national protest in The Hague on 29 November.

Unlike Germany, for example, there is no exemption in the Netherlands for cafes smaller than 40 square metres. They say they are suffering enormous sales losses. The fact that this is scarcely seen in figures for the hospitality sector as a whole is due to the fact that their clients switch to big cafes that have installed separate smoking rooms, according to the small cafes.

To put a stop to the increasing chaos, the minister will have talks with sector organisation KHN today. KHN wants the smoking ban to be withdrawn completely or for it to be more strictly maintained everywhere in the Netherlands.

KHN says Klink has too few inspectors. The minister announced yesterday he is considering deploying the police to assist the Food and Non-Food Authority's (VWA) inspectors. The police unions NPB and ACP however say the police forces are already flooded with work.