Species Protection under Birds Directive
General System of protection
Marketing of birds
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:
- 1.Without prejudice to paragraphs 2 and 3, Member States shall prohibit, for all the bird species referred to in Article 1, the sale, transport for sale, keeping for sale and the offering for sale of live or dead birds and of any readily recognisable parts or derivatives of such birds.
- 2. The activities referred to in paragraph 1 shall not be prohibited in respect of the species referred to in Annex III, Part A, provided that the birds have been legally killed or captured or otherwise legally acquired.
- 3. Member States may, for the species listed in Annex III, Part B, allow within their territory the activities referred to in paragraph 1, making provision for certain restrictions, provided that the birds have been legally killed or captured or otherwise legally acquired.
Member States wishing to grant such authorisation shall first of all consult the Commission with a view to examining jointly with the latter whether the marketing of specimens of such species would result or could reasonably be expected to result in the population levels, geographical distribution or reproductive rate of the species being endangered throughout the Community. Should this examination prove that the intended authorisation will, in the view of the Commission, result in any one of the aforementioned species being thus endangered or in the possibility of their being thus endangered, the Commission shall forward a reasoned recommendation to the Member State concerned stating its opposition to the marketing of the species in question. Should the Commission consider that no such risk exists, it shall inform the Member State concerned accordingly.
The Commission’s recommendation shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Member States granting authorisation pursuant to this paragraph shall verify at regular intervals that the conditions governing the granting of such authorisation continue to be fulfilled.
Article 6 (1) requires the Member States to impose a general prohibition on the marketing of all the birds covered by the Directive, alive or dead, and of any readily recognisable parts or derivatives of such birds. It prohibits the marketing of all species of birds irrespective of their size.
Article 6 (2) to (4) provide an exception under which the sale of species mentioned in Annex III may be allowed under certain circumstances, such as the birds having been legally killed or captured or otherwise legally acquired.
Article 6 (2) provides that marketing regarding the seven species referred to in Annex III/1 is not to be prohibited, provided that the birds have been killed legally or captured or otherwise legally acquired. Since the list in Annex III/1 concerns only seven bird species, whereas the list of birds which may be hunted under national legislation includes 72 species, it is plain that the provision of the national law in question does not comply with the requirements of the Directive. It is intended to avoid a situation in which all the species that may be hunted may also be marketed because of the pressure which marketing may exert on hunting and consequently on the population level of the species in question. 