Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Environment — Conservation of wild birds — Directive 79/409 — Opening and closing dates for hunting — Derogations — Judicious use of certain birds in small numbers — Hunting of wild birds for recreational purposes — Included — (Council Directive 79/409, Arts 7(4) and 9(1)(c))

2. Environment — Conservation of wild birds — Directive 79/409 — Opening and closing dates for hunting — Derogations — Judicious use of certain birds in small numbers — Conditions — (Council Directive 79/409, Art. 9(1)(c))

Summary

1. Article 9(1)(c) of Directive 79/409 on the conservation of wild birds permits a Member State to derogate from the opening and closing dates for hunting which follow from consideration of the objectives set out in Article 7(4) of that directive. In that connection, the hunting of wild birds for recreational purposes during the periods mentioned in Article 7(4) of the Directive may constitute a judicious use of certain birds in small numbers authorised by Article 9(1)(c) of that directive, as do the capture and sale of wild birds even outside the hunting season with a view to keeping them for use as live decoys or to using them for recreational purposes in fairs and markets.

see paras 11-12, operative part 1

2. Article 9 of Directive 79/409 on the conservation of wild birds must be interpreted as allowing hunting to be authorised pursuant to Article 9(1)(c) where there is no other satisfactory solution. That condition would not be met, inter alia, if the sole purpose of the derogation authorising hunting were to extend the hunting periods for certain species of birds in territories which they already frequent during the hunting periods fixed in accordance with Article 7 of the Directive.

Further, hunting must be carried out under strictly supervised conditions and on a selective basis and must apply only to certain birds in small numbers. The latter condition cannot be satisfied if a hunting derogation does not ensure the maintenance of the population of the species concerned at a satisfactory level. If that condition is not fulfilled, the use of birds for recreational hunting cannot, in any event, be considered judicious and, accordingly, acceptable for the purposes of the directive.

Finally, the measures under which hunting is authorised must specify the species which are subject to the derogations, the means, arrangements or methods authorised for capture or killing, the conditions of risk and the circumstances of time and place under which such derogations may be granted, the authority empowered to declare that the required conditions obtain and to decide what means, arrangements or methods may be used, within what limits and by whom, and the controls which will be carried out.

see paras 15, 17-19, operative part 2