Lottery procedure used for coffeeshop licence
image: Martijn Baudoin via Unsplash
The Dutch municipality of Deventer recently organised an open tender to grant a coffeeshop licence, drawing 1035 responses. Annemarie Drahmann, associate professor in administrative law, commented in ‘Trouw’ newspaper about this procedure.
The case concerns the owner of coffeeshop Bull's who had passed away and the licence of his business was not transferable to his heirs. In Deventer, coffeeshop licences are personal licences. A ruling by the Council of State states that licences must be periodically redistributed to give other entrepreneurs an opportunity to compete. The distribution has caused much discussion in recent years and sometimes leads to lawsuits. Drahmann says this is logical ‘because you give one entrepreneur a big advantage’.
It was possible to register for the draw in Deventer by merely providing a name, address and email. This procedure drew criticism and questions were asked about the quality of the interested parties. For this reason, the city council now wants a different policy, where candidates are assessed beforehand. Other municipalities are also struggling with the procedure to grant coffeeshop licences.
Drahmann says that granting a scarce authorisation in this way can be a fair and efficient procedure. ‘Why would you ask someone selling ice cream from a van to write an extensive business plan? Ice cream is ice cream.’ Still, the opening of the new coffeeshop will take some time. Necessary requirements such as an integrity check and assessing objections from local residents still need to take place. Many coffeeshop plans run into problems following protests from the neighbourhood.
More information?
Read the full article in Trouw (in Dutch)