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Matthew Vella
BirdLife Malta’s complaint to the European Union environment commissioner Stavros Dimas on the government’s implementation of the Birds Directive is still in its early stages and will probably take months to achieve fruition, this newspaper is reliably informed.
BirdLife Malta and BirdLife International lodged a formal complaint in July claiming the Maltese government had failed to adequately implement EU laws on bird protection into national legislation, and asked Dimas to ensure Malta complies with the acquis communautaire.
But the process is expected to take months before the Commission can assure itself of whether Malta is breaching the directive. BirdLife Malta is claiming Malta cannot derogate from the ban on spring hunting because it has not transposed the relevant article – Article 9 – in Maltese legislation, and because the conditions mentioned in this article are not fulfilled.
Malta’s derogation from the ban on spring hunting was however negotiated with the EU prior to accession. Upon full transposition of the directive, Malta will have to justify its reasons for derogating from the ban to the Commission – a justification which is expected to be problematic to sustain due to illegal hunting.
The environment directorate-general’s infringements unit is expected to take on the complaint and will be requesting information from the national authorities. If the DG is not satisfied with Malta’s answers on the complaint, it could contemplate action through the European Court of Justice as a measure of last resort.
BirdLife is claiming Malta’s hunting season, which extends to the end of February, overlaps the spring migration of 12 waterfowl species in breached of article 7(4) of the directive.
The organisation says Malta is further breaking EU law by allowing the trapping of turtle dove, quail, song thrush and golden plover from 1t September to 31t January, and again for turtle dove and quail from 25 March to 22 May, which is prohibited by article 8(1) of the directive.
Malta was also granted a transition period until 2008 in its negotiation agreement for bird trapping, but BirdLife has complained the government has allowed the finch trapping season to extend all the way up to 10 April, and is not honouring the condition that “measures taken during the transitional measure shall be in full accordance with the principles governing the timing of hunting of migratory birds”.
The Maltese law also fails to impose limits on the maximum speed of seacraft used for hunting on sea, which must not exceed 5km/h. On the open sea, member states may authorise the use of boats with engines with a maximum speed of 18km/h. Maltese legislation only limits the speed of seacraft at the moment of hunting, which BirdLife say infringes the directive.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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