Species Protection under Birds Directive
General System of protection
Firstly, according to Article 5 and 6 (1) of the Birds Directive, deliberate killing or capture of birds, deliberate destruction of, or damage to, their nests and eggs or removal of their nests is prohibited. Further, the trading, dead or alive, of protected bird species and of any readily recognisable parts or derivatives of such birds is also strictly forbidden.
Without prejudice to Articles 7 and 9, Member States shall take the requisite measures to establish a general system of protection for all species of birds referred to in Article 1, prohibiting in particular:
- (a) deliberate killing or capture by any method;
- (b) deliberate destruction of, or damage to, their nests and eggs or removal of their nests;
- (c) taking their eggs in the wild and keeping these eggs even if empty;
- (d) deliberate disturbance of these birds particularly during the period of breeding and rearing, in so far as disturbance would be significant having regard to the objectives of this Directive;
- (e) keeping birds of species the hunting and capture of which is prohibited. keeping birds of species the hunting and capture of which is prohibited.
In general, the Birds Directive forbids all activities directly threatening the birds, i.e. deliberate killing, capture of birds, destruction of their nests, taking of their eggs, etc. (Article 5 Birds Directive).
The prohibitions set out in Article 5 (b) and (c) must apply without any time limitation. Uninterrupted protection of the birds’ habitat is necessary since many species re-use nests built in earlier years. To suspend that protection during a particular period of the year cannot be considered compatible with the abovementioned prohibition 
. There are some exceptions to this general rule: Preamble (10) and Article 6 (2) and (3) of the Birds Directive, which are listed in Annex III-III/1, III/2 of the Birds Directive.