Bare Barmaids Shaded from Brussels Ban

Melanie Colburn | August 5, 2005

Just when you thought you'd seen everything under the sun from EU regulators, there's a scare that a favorite Bavarian eyeful would be curtained behind EU screens. After the EU Optical Radiation Directive recommended legislation to prohibit sun exposure endangering workers' health, beer garden enthusiasts and their barmaids feared that the traditional Bavarian dirndl dress and its signature plunging neckline would be banned. In response, dirndl devotees and beer garden denizens threatened to boycott Oktoberfest. A German newspaper reports:

[T]he mayor of Munich, Christian Ude, warned of "European legal perfectionism" and threatened never to enter a beer garden again if he were not to be greeted by plunging necklines.

Yesterday, however, EU regulators assured the Bavarians and their international fans that the proposed "protective" legislation would not outlaw the famed dirndls. The EU will vote on the Radiation Directive legislation for "high-risk workers" in September.