Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Germany's highest court said a law that bans smoking in restaurants in the state of Bavaria is constitutional, rejecting an appeal by an unidentified smoker and two innkeepers.

The Bavarian law is in line with a July 30 ruling that permits smoking bans as long as they don't allow for exceptions, the Karlsruhe-based Constitutional Court said today. Allowing smoking in beer tents until the end of this year doesn't breach rules because the exemption is of a temporary nature, it said.

The Bavarian state law, one of the strictest in Germany, doesn't apply to clubs with a restricted membership because they aren't open to the public. That regulation doesn't impinge on innkeepers' freedom of profession, the court said.

Government attempts to introduce a country-wide smoking ban last year foundered amid legal opinion that, under Germany's federal system, individual states have the right to legislate on smoking as it affects pubs and restaurants. The 16 states have since passed their own smoking bans, prompting legal challenges by barkeepers and smokers.

The Federal Constitutional Court, in its July 30 ruling on challenges from Baden-Wuerttemberg and Berlin, said that laws in those two states banning smoking in small pubs that don't have an extra room which can be designated for smokers are discriminatory.

France, the U.K., Italy, Ireland, Norway and Finland are among the European countries which have already banned smoking in public places.

Today's cases are BVerfG 1 BvR 3198/07, 1 BvR 1431/08.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rainer Buergin in Berlin at rbuergin1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 12, 2008 08:50 EDT