Tobacco News and Interesting Information

Germany started banning smoking in bars and restaurants across most of the country Tuesday, but unlike in neighbouring France establishments will be allowed to provide separate smoking rooms.

Germany's legislation is piecemeal: a ban on smoking in all public buildings, including bars, restaurants and nightclubs, applies from January 1 in eight of the country's 16 federal states.

Three of the remaining states have already brought in the ban, whilst the remaining states will follow suit between February and July -- meaning the whole country will be covered by the ban by the end of 2008.

However most states are expected to be lenient in the policing of the ban in the first few months, although in contrast the southern state of Bavaria will not permit separate smokers' rooms.

Some opponents of a ban, and enterprising bar owners, are coming up with ingenious ways to circumvent the law.

According to the German newspaper Bild, one bar in Berlin has turned itself into a private members club, giving free 'membership cards' to all its customers -- which it believes means smoking would be legal.

An Italian restaurant in the capital has even parked a tiny delivery van in front of the trattoria -- heated and ventilated -- to allow diners to sit inside and smoke and eat, dubbed the 'smokeria', according to the newspaper Tagesspiegel.

On a more serious note, a case has been lodged with the country's constitutional court by the Federation of Hoteliers and Restauranteurs, claiming it breaches their freedom to carry out their profession.

The new law appears to have inspired its first act of violence -- on Sunday a bar owner in Lower Saxony was treated for head wounds after being hit with a bottle by a smoker who refused his requests to extinguish his cigarette.

Similar smoking bans on pubs and restaurants came in in England in 2007, and are also in force in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

France also went smoke-free in bars and cafes from New Year's Day.