AFP, December, 2007
BERLIN (AFP) Germany’s hotel and restaurant operators on Friday said they had asked the constitutional court to scrap new restrictions on smoking in restaurants.
“We have filed documents to the constitutional court in Karlsruhe challenging the smoking ban,” their federation said in a statement.
It said it considered a ban on smoking in restaurants, which is already in place in some of Germany’s 16 states and about to become law in others, as a violation of the right of those in the hospitality industry to exercise their profession freely.
“Our suit is not meant as a challenge to the rights of non-smokers but as a bid to protect the rights of restaurant owners whose establishments consist of only one room and who will suffer economically as a result of this…