European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011.

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 477/2011

PART 1:

PRELIMINARY AND GENERAL

1. Citation

2. Interpretation

3. Service of notices

PART 2:

AUTHORISED OFFICERS

4. Appointment of Authorised Officers

5. Functions of Authorised Officers

6. Search warrant

7. Functions relating to off-road vehicles and recreational watercraft

PART 3:

CONSERVATION OF NATURAL HABITATS AND HABITATS OF SPECIES

8. Priorities for designation

9. Surveillance and monitoring

10. Identification of sites for consideration as sites of Community importance

11. Information on candidate sites of Community importance

12. Notification regarding candidate sites of Community importance

13. Objections relating to candidate sites of Community importance

14. Designation, amendment and de-designation of special areas of conservation

15. Identification and notification regarding candidate special protection areas

16. Classification: Notification regarding special protection areas

17. Objections relating to special protection areas

18. Designation, amendment and de-designation of classified special protection areas

19. Consultation initiated by the European Commission to add sites

20. Notifications from the European Commission of non-adoption of candidate sites of Community importance

21. Submissions by the public in relation to the selection, designation, classification, de-designation and protection of European Sites

22. Multiple status

23. Erection of notices

24. Management plans and agreements

25. Change of owner or occupier

PART 4:

ACTIVITIES, PLANS OR PROJECTS AFFECTING EUROPEAN SITES

26. Conservation objectives and measures to be undertaken by the Minister

27. Duties of public authorities relating to nature conservation

28. Ministerial Directions in respect of activities requiring consent

29. Ministerial Directions to control specified activities in specified places.

30. Derogation consents in relation to activities, plans or projects referred to in Regulations 28 and 29

31. Ministerial consents and referrals to An Bord Pleanála

32. Ministerial consents and referrals to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

33. Objections relating to Ministerial Directions

34. Review of Ministerial Directions

35. General provisions for the prevention of damage to European Sites

36. Restoration of land in a European Site following damage

37. Appeals to Appeals Officer

38. Injunctions

39. Threat response plans

40. Administrative agreements

41. Compensation

PART 5:

APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENT

42. Screening for Appropriate Assessment and Appropriate Assessment of implications for European Sites

43. Considerations of overriding public interest

44. Consent by public authorities

45. Compensatory measures

46. Review of existing plans

47. Assessments relating to the same subject matter

48. Minister’s advice and specific guidance

PART 6:

PROTECTION OF FLORA AND FAUNA

49. Prohibition on introduction and dispersal of certain species

50. Prohibition on dealing with and keeping certain species

51. Protection of fauna set out in the First Schedule

52. Protection of flora set out in the First Schedule

53. Measures to control the taking of fauna and flora species referred to in Part 2 of the First Schedule

54. Derogations — flora, fauna and habitats

55. Derogations — birds

PART 7:

MISCELLANEOUS

56. Miscellaneous amendments

57. Education and research

58. Introduction of certain species

59. Reports

60. Power of Minister to obtain information from public authorities

61. Retention of records

62. Veracity and completeness of information, data and declarations

63. General provisions regarding licences, etc.

64. Licenced wildlife dealer

65. Offence of inciting or aiding and abetting

66. Offences by Body Corporate

67. Offences and penalties

68. Prosecution of offences

69. Cost of prosecutions

70. Payment of fines to prosecuting authorities

71. Guidelines and codes of practice

72. Guidelines and codes of practice in criminal and civil proceedings

73. Revocations and savings

74. Transitional provisions in relation to Regulations 49 and 50

SCHEDULES

S.I. No. 477 of 2011

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (BIRDS AND NATURAL HABITATS) REGULATIONS 2011

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 27th September, 2011.

WHEREAS, I, Jimmy Deenihan, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the Act of 1972 and for the purpose of giving effect to Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 (which codifies Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 (as amended)) and Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 (as amended by Council Directive 97/62/EC of 27 October 1997, Regulation (EC) No. 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 September 2003, Council Directive 2006/105/EC of 20 November 2006 and as amended by Act of Accession of Austria, Sweden and Finland (adapted by Council Decision 95/1/EC, Euratom, ECSC), Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the European Union is founded and as amended by the Corrigendum to that Directive) hereby make the following Regulations:

PART 1

PRELIMINARY AND GENERAL

Citation

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011.

(2) The Wildlife Act 1976 , the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000 , the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2010 and these Regulations shall be construed together as one.

(3) These Regulations shall come into operation on 21 September 2011.

Interpretation

2. (1) In these Regulations, save where the context otherwise requires:

“Act of 1972” means the European Communities Act 1972 , as inserted by section 2 of the European Communities Act 2007 and section 4 of the European Union Act 2009 ;

“Act of 2000” means the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000 ;

“activity” includes any operation or activity likely to impact on the physical environment or on wild flora or fauna or on the habitats of wild flora and fauna, other than—

(a) development requiring permission under Part 111 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 as amended,

(b) activities requiring the consent of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, under the European Communities (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Agriculture) Regulations 2011,

(c) activities to which the exercise of statutory power in favour of that activity, pursuant to Regulations made under the Act of 1972 or under any of the enactments set out in the Second Schedule of these Regulations, applies, or

(d) activities for which, under the Act of 1972, the function of giving or refusing consent for an activity, or deciding on its own behalf to carry out any activity, is assigned to a public authority and the activity is carried out with and in compliance with a consent given under the applicable regulations;

“activity requiring consent” includes any activity that has, before the commencement date of these Regulations, been notified pursuant to Regulation 4(3)(b) of the European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1997, any activity listed in Regulations made under the Act of 1972 for the purpose of designating a site as a special protection area or as a special area of conservation, and any activity in relation to which the Minister has given a Direction pursuant to Regulation 28 of these Regulations, as being an activity that requires the approval of the Minister or is covered by the consent of a public authority;

“animal” includes any vertebrate or invertebrate animal and any species, hybrid, subspecies, breed, race, strain, sport, variety, or other infraspecific taxon of such an animal, and all stages of the biological cycle and resting stages thereof;

“Appropriate Assessment” means Appropriate Assessment as referred to in Article 6(3) of the Habitats Directive;

“authorised officer” means a person standing appointed as an authorised officer under Regulation 4;

“the Birds Directive” means Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 (which codifies Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 (as amended));

“the Board” means An Bord Pleanála;

“candidate site of Community importance” means—

(a) a site—

(i) in relation to which the Minister has given notice pursuant to Regulations under the Act of 1972 that he or she considers the site may be eligible for identification as a site of Community importance pursuant to Article 4 of the Habitats Directive, which notice may be amended in accordance with such Regulations under the Act of 1972,

(ii) that is included in a list transmitted to the European Commission in accordance with Article 4(1) of the Habitats Directive, or

(iii) that is added in accordance with Article 5 of the Habitats Directive, to the list transmitted to the European Commission pursuant to Article 4(1) of the Habitats Directive,

but only until the adoption in respect of the site of a decision by the European Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 21 of the Habitats Directive for the purposes of the third paragraph of Article 4(2) of that Directive, or

(b) a site—

(i) which is subject to a consultation procedure in accordance with Article 5(1) of the Habitats Directive, or

(ii) in relation to which a Council decision is pending in accordance with Article 5(3) of the Habitats Directive;

“candidate special area of conservation” means a site that is a candidate site of Community importance or a site of Community importance;

“candidate special...