Coffeeshops in Eindhoven: the suspended residency rule and the rules

Eindhoven is the Brabant city where the residency criterion is not enforced: the mayor suspended administrative enforcement on 15 January 2019, and that decision still stands. This page sets out what it means and what else applies in the city.

What was decided in 2019

The rule is a single sentence: “The mayor suspends enforcement of the I-criterion under article 13b(1) of the Opiumwet.” The 2020 coffeeshop policy repeats it and adds that the mayor takes no administrative action against a shop that admits or sells to non-residents, until further notice. The suspension began as a pilot in 2015 and was extended three times. The stated reasoning: Eindhoven coffeeshops drew about ten per cent foreign visitors, street dealing disappeared from the streetscape after the suspension, and around twenty per cent of non-residents said they would turn to the illegal market if the rule were enforced.

Not enforced is not abolished

What is suspended is enforcement by the mayor. The criterion remains a national tolerance condition and still appears in the city's own policy, and a shop may always refuse anyone. Anyone reading that Eindhoven abolished the rule is reading something the documents do not say.

From a shrink policy back towards fifteen

A de facto attrition policy brought the count down to twelve by the end of 2019. The 2020 policy reversed the direction and aims back at the original maximum of fifteen; the WODC still recorded twelve at the end of 2024, so nothing had been added on balance. This directory lists 9, fewer again, because we include only businesses that call themselves a coffeeshop in their own public listing.

What else applies

Tolerated, not licensed: the shop holds a declaration, not a licence to sell cannabis.
The AHOJGI criteria: no advertising, no hard drugs, no nuisance, no minors, at most 5 grams per buyer per day and 500 grams of stock.
No alcohol on the premises.
Eindhoven is not in the closed-chain experiment, so its back door is unregulated.

See all 9 coffeeshops in Eindhoven →

Sources

This is not legal advice. ZazaMap sells nothing, brokers nothing and advertises no individual business.