By Diana Niedernhoefer
KARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters) - Germany's highest courtruled on Wednesday that small bars and restaurants should beexempted from regional smoking bans.
The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe said the banswere unconstitutional because they "seriously interfered" withthe livelihoods of these businesses.
Smoking bans came into effect individually in most ofGermany's 16 federal states at the start of the year.
The fact that the laws allow bars and restaurants to createclosed-off smoking areas in effect put small establishmentsthat lacked the space for these at an unfair disadvantage, thecourt said.
The ruling upheld a complaint by the owners of two smallbars in Berlin and a nightclub operator in the southwesternstate of Baden-Wuerttemberg, who argued that the legislationhad put their businesses at risk.
Presiding judge Hans-Juergen Papier said the rules must beredrawn by the end of 2009 and that, until then, smoking mustbe allowed in bars and restaurants of less than 75 sq metres(800 sq feet).
But he also made clear that his ruling would not preventlegislators imposing a blanket smoking ban in all public spacesif they chose to do so.
Wouda Kuipers, head of the German cigarette makers' lobbyDZV, hailed the ruling as a victory against the marginalisationof smokers and added: "We are warning against a growing cultureof bans and regulations in Germany."
Around a third of the adult population smoke in Germany,where lighting up became a badge of freedom and tolerance afterHitler's Nazi regime cracked down on the habit in the 1930s.
An attempt by the federal government to introduce anationwide ban failed in 2006, and many bars and restaurants inBerlin flouted their regional ban when it came into force inJanuary.
As most of Germany's regional states have smoking lawssimilar to those of Berlin and Baden-Wuerttemberg, the rulingis likely to set a precedent for the other states.
(Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
