Germany must ease its ban on smoking in bars, only months after it was introduced, following a ruling by the constitutional court, the country’s top legal body.

The Karlsruhe-based court ruled that a ban on smoking in small one-room bars in two German states – Berlin and Baden-Württemberg – was discriminatory because similar pubs that had extra rooms were legally allowed to provide one for smokers. Smokers should be permitted in one-room premises too, the court said, in a ruling that is likely to be adopted by other regional states.