Court: Restaurant can reopen after its refusal to check coronavirus passes

The Nijmegen restaurant Moeke will be allowed to welcome guests again, one day after it was forced shut due to violation of coronavirus restrictions, a judge decided. The ruling was decided in an emergency procedure in the court in Arnhem on Sunday.

The restaurant was ordered shut for eight days on Saturday afternoon when special investigating officers noticed that the catering staff had not asked two guests for their coronavirus access pass. A sign in front of Moeke a few days earlier stated that the business would not actively check the access passes, defying Dutch rules for indoor hospitality guests which began on Saturday.

The owner of the restaurant took the matter to court on Sunday morning. The manager of the etablishments stated that authorities had not given them enough time to check the QR code. The restaurant’s lawyer said he found it strange that there had been “no intermediate step”.

Moeke promised to remove the sign at the entrance and to enforce the mandatory coronavirus access pass check.

Since Saturday, guests to catering and cultural establishments aged 13 and older have to show a coronavirus access pass, proving they are either vaccinated against Covid-19, tested negative for the coronavirus, or recently recovered from a Covid-19 infection.