Updated 11 February 2009
11 out of 16 German states currently have smoke-free laws. On 1st August 2007 in Lower Saxony and Baden-Wurttemberg smoking was banned in local authority buildings, schools, hospitals, bars and restaurants and the state of Hessen also has smoke-free laws. Smoke-free legislation came into force on 1st January 2008 in the states of: Berlin; Bavaria, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein. Saxony, Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate introduced restrictions on smoking in public in February 2008. North-Rhine Westphalia and Thuringia introduced smoke-free legislation in July 2008. Different laws are in place in each state and some laws more comprehensive than others. The state of Bavaria is to relax laws from August2009; small bars will be able to introduce special smoking areas, as will beer tents,
In 2006 there had been plans to introduce a nationwide ban on smoking in public places, however the proposal was dropped in December 2006 when government legal experts discovered a national ban could be unconstitutional.
The federal government prohibited smoking in government buildings, on public transport and at public transport stations in February 2007 and this measure was implemented on 1st September 2007.
Back to global briefing