Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1.Measures adopted by Community institutions - Directives - Implementation by Member States - Transposition of a directive without the enactment of legislation - Conditions - Existence of a general legal context ensuring full application of the directive - Mere administrative practices insufficient

( EEC Treaty, Art . 189, third paragraph )

2.Environment - Conservation of wild birds - Directive 79/409 - Implementation by Member States - Conditions for the grant of derogations from the prohibitions laid down in the directive

( Council Directive 79/409, Arts 5 and 9 )

3.Environment - Conservation of wild birds - Directive 79/409 - Implementation by Member States - Obligation to impose express prohibitions of means of hunting and methods of killing prohibited by the directive - Means and methods unknown in the Member States in question - Irrelevant

( Council Directive 79/409, Arts 5 and 8, Annex IV )

Summary

1.The transposition of a directive into national law does not necessarily require the provisions of the directive to be enacted in precisely the same words in a specific express legal provision, a general legal context may be sufficient if it actually ensures the full application of the directive in a sufficiently clear and precise manner . That may be the case where transposition is effected by a legislative provision serving as the basis for the adoption of administrative measures which are officially published, general in scope and capable of creating rights and obligations for individuals . In contrast, mere administrative practices, which by their nature may be changed at will by the authorities, do not constitute proper transposition .

2.This is an area where the faithful transposition of directives is particularly important, since a common heritage is at stake whose management is entrusted to the Member States as regards their respective territories . Consequently, any derogations made by the legislation of a Member State from the general prohibitions set out in Directive 79/409 in order to ensure the conservation of wild birds must be based on at least one of the reasons listed exhaustively in Article 9(1 ) of the directive and must meet the criteria laid down in Article 9(2 ), the purpose of which is to limit derogations to what is strictly necessary and to enable the Commission to supervise them .

3.The fact that certain means of hunting or means of killing which are prohibited by Directive 79/409 on the conservation of wild birds are unknown in a Member State does not release that Member State from its obligation to adopt laws or administrative procedures in order to ensure that the provisions of the directive are adequately transposed . In view of the principle of legal certainty the relevant prohibitions must be reproduced in mandatory legal provisions .