Council of State scraps Amsterdam decision to slash canal tour boat permits

The Council of State has scrapped Amsterdam’s decision to change operating permits for canal tour companies from indefinite to temporary permits to limit the number of canal tours in the city. According to the Netherlands’ highest administrative court, the measure was not well motivated and disproportionately affected small companies. “If the municipality wants to stick to a maximum number of permits, it will have to establish a new policy in which the measures are properly motivated and will not lead to unbalanced results,” the Council of State ruled.

As one measure to counter the growing crowds in the Amsterdam city center, the municipality introduced a new licencing system in which it will grant a maximum of 550 operating permits for passenger boats on the canals. The limit has consequences for the duration of the permits - all permits issued for an indefinite period must be changed to fixed-term permits so that the city does not violate the European Services Directive, which stipulates that access to the passenger shipping market must remain possible.

Canal tour companies in Amsterdam filed a total of 51 legal cases against this measure with the Council of State. The Council ruled on 27 of them on Wednesday.

According to the Council of State, Amsterdam is allowed to limit the number of operating permits for canal tours, but only if there are “compelling reasons of general interest” to do so. And that’s not the case here.

The city's research did not show that passenger shipping is partly responsible for the nuisance experienced by locals and, therefore, pressures liveability in the city. The Amsterdam office of mayor and aldermen, therefore, did not sufficiently motivate why limiting canal tour permits was necessary to improve liveability in the city, prevent nuisance, and protect the quality of the canals as historical heritage.

The city also decided not to let all old permits expire at the same time but to do so according to a ranking. The Council of State ruled that this ranking mainly benefited large canal tour companies - those with large tour boats and those with many permits. The larger companies’ permits changed later “at the expense of other, often smaller shipowners,” the Council said. “This is in conflict with the pricinple of proportionality.

As a result of the ruling, all old permits issued for an indefinite period are valid again. “As long as a permit limit applies, this is in conflict with the European Services Directive,” the Council said. “It is now up to the office of mayor and aldermen to remove this conflict.”