Originally Posted by
Aviatrix
I was in Berlin earlier this month - and the smoking ban was openly being flouted in one of the restaurants we went to. When I complained I was told that it doesn't come into force until August - which I knew was a lie, and on reflection I should have voted with my feet and gone elsewhere (instead of accepting their offer of a table in a small and not very comfortable non-smoking room)
Its half true. Smoking was banned January 1st, however, the law will not be enforced before July 1st. After July 1st smoking in a bar, pub or restaurant will cost up to 100 Euro for the smoker and up to 1000 Euro for the innkeeper. The law was only introduced late November 2007 and it was understood to be inappropriate to enforce the sanctions of sec.7 of the law. These were postponed in sec.8 para 2 until mid 2008.
http://www.berlin.de/imperia/md/cont...and_071108.pdf