Report on derogations in 2007, Birds Directive 79/409/EEC Article 9 COMPOSITE EUROPEAN COMMISSION REPORT ON DEROGATIONS IN 2007 ACCORDING TO ARTICLE 9 OF DIRECTIVE 79/409/EEC ON THE CONSERVATION OF WILD BIRDS DECEMBER 2009 1 Report on derogations in 2007, Birds Directive 79/409/EEC Article 9 CONTENTS Introduction........................................................................................................... 3 1 Methodology................................................................................................. 4 2 Overview of derogations across the EU........................................................ 7 3 Member State reports.................................................................................. 12 3.1 Austria................................................................................................. 12 3.2 Belgium............................................................................................... 14 3.3 Bulgaria............................................................................................... 15 3.4 Cyprus................................................................................................. 16 3.5 Czech Republic................................................................................... 17 3.6 Denmark.............................................................................................. 18 3.7 Estonia................................................................................................. 19 3.8 Finland ................................................................................................ 20 3.9 France.................................................................................................. 22 3.10 Germany.............................................................................................. 23 3.11 Greece ................................................................................................. 24 3.12 Hungary............................................................................................... 25 3.13 Ireland ................................................................................................. 26 3.14 Italy ..................................................................................................... 27 3.15 Latvia .................................................................................................. 29 3.16 Lithuania ............................................................................................. 30 3.17 Luxembourg........................................................................................ 31 3.18 Malta ................................................................................................... 31 3.19 Netherlands ......................................................................................... 33 3.20 Poland ................................................................................................. 34 3.21 Portugal............................................................................................... 35 3.22 Romania .............................................................................................. 37 3.23 Slovakia............................................................................................... 37 3.24 Slovenia............................................................................................... 38 3.25 Spain ................................................................................................... 39 3.26 Sweden................................................................................................ 41 3.27 United Kingdom..................................................................................43 ANNEX A........................................................................................................... 45 ANNEX B........................................................................................................... 46 2 Report on derogations in 2007, Birds Directive 79/409/EEC Article 9 Introduction According to Article 9 of the Birds Directive (79/409/EEC), the EU Member States (MS) may derogate from the provisions of Articles 5, 6, 7 and 8. Derogations may be issued provided that there are no other satisfactory solutions. Every year Member States (ref Art. 9.3) forward to the European Commission a specific report on the implementation of Art.9. This composite report provides an analysis of the EU Member States annual reports covering the year 2007 and an assessment of the conformity of the derogations issued with the protection measures of the Birds Directive. The report is based on the national reports submitted to the EC Commission from all of the 27 EU Member States. 3 Report on derogations in 2007, Birds Directive 79/409/EEC Article 9 1 Methodology Twenty-seven national reports on derogations issued in 2007, according to Art. 9 of the Birds Directive, have been assessed. All derogations have been systematically scrutinised looking for high numbers of licenses, species, country specific reasons or methods, allowed activities. The evaluation has been carried out in different steps: a) checking of the completeness of the national reports submitted A formal check of the reports has been carried out in order to verify whether all the needed information, specified in Art. 9.2, was provided. b) checking of the number of derogations and of licenses issued The control has been carried out to evaluate how often each MS has used this prerogative. The historical trend of the derogations issued has also been taken into consideration. When a national report does not include information on the number of licenses issued per derogation, it was assumed that only 1 license is covered by each derogation (i.e. 1 derogation = 1 license). c) checking of the reasons for which the derogations have been issued Derogations under art. 9 of the Birds Directive can be granted only for specific reasons, listed in table 1 and, more in detail, in annex A. The consistency with provisions of the Birds Directive has been verified. Derogations issued for scientific research and educational purposes and to protect wild flora and fauna and natural habitats were a priori considered as compatible with the Directive since they usually do not affect the conservation status of the species population. Only in very few cases, when the derogation included killing of individuals, they were analysed in more detail. Table 1. Main standardised codes for derogation reasons Code Reasons reported in art. 9.1 of the Birds Directive 10 (a) in the interests of public health and safety 20 (a) in the interests of air safety 30 (a) to prevent serious damage, in particular to crops, livestock, forests, fisheries and water 40 (a) for the protection of flora and fauna 50 (b) for the purposes of research and teaching, of re-population, of reintroduction and for the breeding necessary for these purposes 60 (c) to permit, under strictly supervised conditions and on a selective basis, the capture, keeping or other judicious use of certain birds in small numbers d) checking of the alternative solutions Derogation may be granted provided that no alternative solutions exist. When the national report does not provide this information, it was assumed that no alternative solutions exist. e) checking activities and methods permitted Derogations can allow only some activities, specified in arts. 5 and 6.1, listed in table 2 and, more in detail, in annex B. Derogations allowing impacting activities, such as killing of individuals, destruction of breeding sites places, were analysed in more detail in order to establish the eventual impact on the conservation status of the species concerned. 4 Report on derogations in 2007, Birds Directive 79/409/EEC Article 9 Table 2. Main standardised codes for authorized activities. Code Main permitted activity 10 Sale 20 Deliberate capture by any method 30 Deliberate killing by any method 40 Hunting 50 Keeping Deliberate disturbance of these birds, particularly during the period of breeding 80 and rearing 100 Taking of eggs in the wild and keeping these eggs even if empty Deliberate destruction of, or damage to, birds nests and eggs or removal of birds 120 nests Transport for sale, keeping for sale and the offering for sale of live or dead birds 130 and of any readily recognizable parts or derivatives of such birds Table 3. Standardised codes for methods. Codes Method BTH1 Firearms BTH Traps BTH Nets BTH By hand BD2 Lime BD Cages BD Snares BD Poison and poisoned or anesthetic bait BD Pricking of eggs BD Decoys BD Falconry BD Tape recording BD Bird calls BD Ringing BD Scaring devices BD Electrical devices capable of killing or stunning BD Artificial light sources BD Mirrors and other dazzling devices BD Devices for illuminating targets BD Sighting devices for night shooting comprising an electronic image magnifier or image converter BD Explosives BD Gassing and smoking out BD Semi-automatic or automatic weapons with a magazine capable of holding more than two rounds of ammunition BD Aircraft BD Motor vehicles in motion BD Hooks BD Boats driven in excess of five kilometers per hour 1 BTH means that the activity can be used for derogations under the Birds and Habitats Directives. 2 BD means that the activity can only be used under the Birds Directive. 5 Report on derogations in 2007, Birds Directive 79/409/EEC Article 9 Article 9.2 of the Birds Directive requires a derogation report to specify the means, arrangements or methods authorised for capture or killing.