An interim relief judge at the Rechtbank Amsterdam (Amsterdam District Court) on 22 October suspended an order by the mayor of Amsterdam that threatened Room Mate Amsterdam B.V. with a penalty of €25,000 per dance event, according to the ruling.
The ruling is provisional: it was given in a voorlopige voorziening (an interim relief procedure) and does not bind the court in any later full case.
The mayor imposed the order on 21 October.
It covered dance events with amplified music or DJs held without an evenementenvergunning (an event permit) from Wednesday 21 October to Saturday 24 October.
The order is now suspended until six weeks after the mayor decides on the company’s formal objection.
The mayor must also refund the €397 court fee and pay €1,868 towards the company’s legal costs.
Party or networking event
The mayor argued that the activities were events under the city’s general bylaw, the Algemene Plaatselijke Verordening 2008, and so needed a permit.
The company argued that they were networking gatherings not open to the public, so no permit was required.
The judge did not decide that question.
At the hearing, the mayor said the order applied only to three activities named in the decision: one on the evening of 22 October and two on Saturday 24 October, one of them billed as My first ADE & Showcase.
The company and the organiser, Meet Me At The Hotel, which joined the case as a third party, then undertook that those three would not go ahead.
According to the ruling, they had already told the people expected on 22 October and would also announce it on the website.
Why the judge stepped in
A preventive penalty order requires that a violation is clearly about to happen, the judge found, and with the three activities called off that was no longer the case.
The company was also awarded its legal costs because the order as issued had covered more activities than the three the mayor named at the hearing.
No appeal is possible against the ruling. It does not say when the mayor will decide on the objection.
Source: Rechtbank Amsterdam, ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2026:10416, published 23 October 2026