{"id":164654,"date":"2024-02-29T13:37:11","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T12:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=164654"},"modified":"2026-01-16T16:49:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:49:54","slug":"campus-smoking-bans-impossible-to-enforce-say-institutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/02\/29\/campus-smoking-bans-impossible-to-enforce-say-institutions\/","title":{"rendered":"Campus smoking bans: impossible to enforce, say institutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Higher education institutions have come to the conclusion that campus smoking bans are unenforceable. They either pay the fines or contest them. But the ministry insists they need to act on their \u2018responsibility to society\u2019.<\/p>\n

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Utrecht University has already been fined 1800 euros by the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) because people were seen smoking on campus. But as DUB reported in December, the university appealed<\/a> against these penalties.<\/p>\n

It argues that the ban is simply not enforceable. The campus covers a wide area and are intersected by strips of public space where the ban does not apply. It would take hundreds of enforcers to patrol the site.<\/p>\n

The University of Amsterdam and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences also stopped<\/a> enforcing the ban this calendar year. They have received several thousand euros in fines, but point out that permanent enforcement would mean annual costs of two million euros. Their view is that this is disproportionate. Instead, they have put up humorous no-smoking signs on campus.<\/p>\n

Smoking areas removed<\/h2>

Campus smoking bans came into force in September 2020. Smoking inside buildings had long been prohibited, but the full campus bans meant people were not allowed to smoke in outside areas either. All ashtrays and smoking areas were removed.<\/p>\n

That sometimes leads to problems. Wageningen University & Research refers to \u2018a sea of cigarette butts\u2019, as smokers leave their stubs lying around or toss them away in green spaces. The university now organises clean-up operations<\/a>, which would not be needed if everyone complied with the ban.<\/p>\n\n\t

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