Birds Directive

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Directive 2009/147 / EC

Title: Directive 2009/147 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds
Designation:
(not official) 		Birds Directive
Scope: EEA
Legal matter: Conservation law
Basis: EC Treaty , in particular Article 175 paragraph 1
Procedure overview: European Commission
European Parliament
IPEX Wiki
To be used from: February 15, 2010
Reference: OJ L 20 of January 26, 2010, pp. 7-25
Full text Consolidated version (not official)
basic version
The regulation must have been implemented in national law.
Please note the information on the current version of legal acts of the European Union !


European Union flag

Directive 2009/147 / EC

Title: Council Directive 79/409 / EEC of April 2, 1979 on the conservation of wild birds
Designation:
(not official) 		Birds Directive
Scope: EEA
Legal matter: Conservation law
Basis: EEC Treaty , especially Article 235
Procedure overview: European Commission
European Parliament
IPEX Wiki
To be used from: April 7, 1981
Reference: OJ L 103 of 25.4.1979, pp. 1-18
Full text Consolidated version (not official)
basic version
Regulation has expired.
Please note the information on the current version of legal acts of the European Union !

The bird protection directive of the European Union serves to preserve the wild bird species indigenous to the European territory of its member states and to regulate the protection, management and regulation of these birds, their eggs and habitats. The original Council Directive 79/409 / EEC of April 2, 1979 was repealed by the currently valid Directive 2009/147 / EC of November 30, 2009 and - largely the same in content - replaced on February 15, 2010.

With this directive , the member states of the EU (then the EEC) committed themselves to the restriction and control of hunting and the administration of bird protection areas as an essential measure for the conservation, restoration or creation of habitats for rare or threatened European bird species. Together with the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive , it essentially serves to implement the Bern Convention . The bird sanctuaries common interest are generally European bird sanctuary (also called special reserve BSG , Eng. Special Protection Area SPA ), the protected areas under the two directives form the network Natura 2000. .

Protected species

The directive aims to protect all wild native bird species; Bird species native to overseas regions of the EU are not recorded. Their stocks should keep viable populations permanently or regain them through suitable measures. Species with a special protection status are listed in appendices for which further protection measures apply. Annex I of the guideline includes 181 species or subspecies (as of 2009). In particular, the member states are obliged to declare the “most suitable areas in terms of numbers and area” for the conservation of these species as protected areas, to restore destroyed habitats and create new habitats, to promote research and to prohibit killing, capturing and keeping in national law or disturbing birds, to enforce against egg collecting or marketing of produce.

Hunting and catching birds

The hunt for songbirds was the impetus for the EU Birds Directive in the 1970s. At that time, migratory birds were z. B. in Belgium, France and Italy caught and hunted by the millions with nets, liming rods, traps and automatic weapons.

Since the adoption of the directive, the use of bird traps of any kind has been banned in the EU - exceptions are only possible if there is “no other satisfactory solution” and if the exception only concerns “small quantities” of specimens of a species. Countries like France and Malta in particular use these poorly clear guidelines to release bird traps to catch hundreds of thousands of songbirds. The guideline lists in various annexes which bird species are of particular importance, which require special protection and which species may be hunted. Appendix II lists 82 bird species (as of 2009), 24 of which may be shot throughout the EU. The remaining 58 may only be hunted in those countries that have requested this from the Commission. All other European bird species may not be subject to national hunting laws, so they are protected throughout Europe.

The Birds Directive also prohibits hunting during the breeding and rearing seasons, hunting while retreating to the breeding areas, destroying or damaging nests, collecting and owning eggs and deliberate serious disturbances, especially during the breeding season.

Habitats

The directive also protects the habitats of wild bird species, since pure species protection without the simultaneous protection of the biotopes has no effect. This includes the establishment of protected areas, the maintenance of habitats and the restoration of destroyed and the creation of new habitats (Art. 3).

The European bird sanctuaries serve directly to protect migratory birds , which can fly through several countries on their migratory routes within a few days and are therefore dependent on rest stops to look for food and to be able to rest. The Birds Directive takes this into account by requiring protective measures for the breeding, moulting and wintering areas of migratory birds. But also populations of resident birds of the attachment species are recorded.

The protection of wetlands is also of great importance, in particular the protection of internationally important wetlands. This creates a bridge to the Ramsar Convention of 1971, the aim of which is to preserve internationally important wetlands.

trade

In principle, according to the Birds Directive, trading in all European wild birds, whether alive or dead, or their feathers, eggs and the like is prohibited. However, individual species are exempt from this prohibition; these are listed in Annex III of the directive. These include, above all, the more common regularly hunted bird species, primarily ducks and hens.

Process of declaration of protected areas

In particular, the Birds Directive requires that the EU member states place areas that are particularly important for the bird world under nature protection (Art. 4 I). The reported after the policy reserves are as European bird sanctuary  (ESV) respectively Special Protection Area  (SPA) or English Special Protection Area  (SPA) for the purposes of the Habitats Directive refers.

In contrast to the interim FFH status of Site of Community Importance (GGB / SCI) between nomination and legal implementation, the BSG / SPA are directly valid by announcement. However, the designation by the European Commission does not yet constitute a legally effective protection category of its own; rather, the member states place these areas under protection according to their respective national regulations and under their national names. Some states have anchored the Natura 2000 areas as a national legal class, otherwise European protection is also embedded in other national categories.

Since the implementation by the member states progressed very slowly in some cases, nature conservation associations under the coordination of BirdLife International decided since 1993 to designate the areas required under the directive, but not protected by the member states, as Important Bird Areas . This list of suggestions was then expanded globally and supplemented with Endemic Bird Areas . This list of proposals was used by national and European courts to decide whether a member state has fulfilled its protection obligations.

Problems

The adoption of the EU Birds Directive in 1979 made great progress in protecting nature and birds in Europe. Almost all of the provisions in the directive have now been incorporated into national laws. Problems are numerous exceptions as well as the implementation of the legal rules: Many countries, such as France, continue to allow the use of actually forbidden bird traps for traditional reasons, like Malta authorize the actually forbidden hunting in spring time or - like Italy - give actually protected species to the Launch free. In Germany exemptions are generously granted to cormorants to shoot or scare.

The European Commission often has to enforce compliance with the Birds Directive in lengthy proceedings before the European Court of Justice . A control of the bans on hunting and bird trapping does not work in many countries to this day.

Implementation in Germany

As an EU directive , the Birds Directive has no direct effect on those to whom the access or marketing bans required in it are intended to be directed; to do this, it needs to be implemented in national law. In Germany, this is mainly done by the Federal Nature Conservation Act (BNatSchG), according to which all animal species covered by the directive, i.e. all European bird species, are "specially protected" in its own right. Its regulations on special species protection and the related fines and criminal offenses are therefore applicable to them.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article 1 of the current Birds Directive
  2. ↑ Article 18 of the VSR, with the exception of a few deadline regulations that continue to apply
  3. ↑ Articles 5 and 6 of the regulation
  4. ↑ § 7 Paragraph 2 Numbers 12 and 13 b bb BNatSchG
  5. ↑ § 44 BNatSchG and following
  6. ↑ § 69, § 71 and in particular § 71a paragraph 1 number 2 b BNatSchG