15.8.2008   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 209/32

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declare that, by failing to take the requisite measures to transpose fully and/or correctly the requirements resulting from Article 3(1) and (2), Article 4(1), Article 5 and Article 8(1) of Council Directive 79/409/EEC (1) of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under those provisions;

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order the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs.

1.

The Commission has examined the compatibility of the measures taken by the Hellenic Republic to transpose Directive 79/409/EEC. That check showed that certain provisions of the directive have not been fully and/or correctly transposed.

2.

In particular the Commission considers that the Hellenic Republic has not transposed Article 3(1) of Directive 79/409/EEC, because it has not taken all the requisite measures to preserve, maintain or re-establish a sufficient diversity and area of habitats for all the species of birds referred to in Article 1.

3.

The Commission also considers that Article 3(2) of Directive 79/409/EEC has not been fully and/or correctly transposed, since the transposing measure does not permit review of the lawfulness of the designation of an area as a special protection area (SPA), does not contain any provision for the protection of habitats outside the SPAs but in their vicinity and also makes no provision as regards re-establishment of destroyed biotopes and the creation of biotopes, despite their being important objectives of the directive.

4.

The Commission maintains in addition that Article 4(1) of Directive 79/409/EEC has not been transposed correctly because no formal procedure for designating areas as SPAs has been provided for, there is no express reference and link between the species in Annex I and the requirement to designate SPAs and there is no reference to the requirement to take into account trends and variations in population levels of protected species.

5.

The Commission then finds that Article 5 of Directive 79/409/EEC has not been transposed fully and correctly because the Greek legislation contains no general requirement of species protection as laid down by the directive but is oriented towards hunting. Furthermore, the prohibition of deliberate killing of protected species and deliberate taking of their eggs has not been transposed.

6.

Lastly, the Commission considers that Article 8(1) of Directive 79/4409/EEC has not been transposed correctly, because in the Greek legislation there is no general prohibition of the use of all means, arrangements or methods used for the large-scale or non-selective capture or killing of birds or capable of causing the local disappearance of a species.

7.

The Commission accordingly considers that the Hellenic Republic has not transposed fully and/or correctly the requirements resulting from Articles 3(1) and (2), 4(1), 5 and 8(1) of Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds.