Karlsruhe, Germany - Germany's semi-ban on smoking in bars
is unconstitutional, because tiny one-room taverns cannot set aside
space for patrons who want to smoke, senior judges ruled Wednesday.
The Constitutional Court ruling cheered publicans and the tobacco
industry in Germany, where about one third of adults smoke, and where
politicians have been wary of the rest of the West's battle to wipe
out the habit using total bans.
In unison, the 16 states have passed legislation in the past year
that only allows smoking in separate smoking areas at cafes and pubs.
All over Germany, the men who nestle for much of the winter in
dimly lit bars that reek of tobacco and beer muttered that the rule
was a dictatorial attack on individual liberty.
Publicans who operate tiny bars, often in converted shops,
challenged the law, saying it discriminated against premises which
are too small to partition and can no longer welcome smokers at all.
The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, southern Germany,
agreed, directing the states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Berlin to
amend their smoking-ban legislation by the end of next year.
One of the three plaintiffs was Sylvia Thimm, 45, who runs Doors,
a hole-in-the-wall Berlin pub. 'I'm delighted,' she said. 'My
business nearly failed because most of my patrons smoke. Tonight
we're going to celebrate.'
Until it is altered, the no-smoking rule is to remain in effect,
but it will not apply to one-room bars with less than 75 square
metres of floor space provided they exclude anyone under 18.
Other states said Wednesday they too would tolerate smoking in
small bars till the law is changed.
By a 6:2 margin, judges said an out-and-out ban would have been
perfectly constitutional, but the exemptions in the legislation were
not, because they were discriminatory against the smaller bars.
Chief justice Hans-Juergen Papier said legislators were entitled
to 'protect the public from dangers to health, and the legislature
can consider passive smoking to be such a danger.' But any exemptions
must benefit all taverns equally.
That inspired fresh appeals for Germany to follow Italy, Ireland
and other nations that have outlawed barroom smoking altogether.
Sabine Baetzing, the federal commissioner on drugs, said, 'This
verdict is against the exemptions.'
In Berlin, federal authorities voiced relief that smoking bans
were constitutional and said the amendments would be up to the 16
states.
Out of Germany's 187,000 premises serving food and drink, 60,000
to 80,000 have their guests in a single room, the German hotel and
restaurant federation Dehoga said. The smoking ban has been blamed by
many operators for a decline in sales.
In the first half of 2008, German beer sales declined 1.3 per cent
to 44 million hectolitres, government statisticians said.
Tobacco tax in Germany raises 14 billion euros annually for the
government. Berlin says smoking costs the economy 18.8 billion euros
annually, including hospital treatment of lung disease, welfare for
lung patients and lost production when smokers fall sick.
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