CONVENTION
ON THE CONSERVATION OF EUROPEAN WILDLIFE
AND NATURAL HABITATS
(ETS № 104)
(Bern, 19.IX.1979)
Preamble
The member States of the Council of Europe and the other signatories hereto,
Considering that the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between its members;
Considering the wish of the Council of Europe to co-operate with other States in the field of nature conservation;
Recognising that wild flora and fauna constitute a natural heritage of aesthetic, scientific, cultural, recreational, economic and intrinsic value that needs to be preserved and handed on to future generations;
Recognising the essential role played by wild flora and fauna in maintaining biological balances;
Noting that numerous species of wild flora and fauna are being seriously depleted and that some of them are threatened with extinction;
Aware that the conservation of natural habitats is a vital component of the protection and conservation of wild flora and fauna;
Recognising that the conservation of wild flora and fauna should be taken into consideration by the governments in their national goals and programmes, and that international co-operation should be established to protect migratory species in particular;
Bearing in mind the widespread requests for common action made by governments or by international bodies, in particular the requests expressed by the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 1972 and the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe;
Desiring particularly to follow, in the field of wildlife conservation, the recommendations of Resolution No. 2 of the Second European Ministerial Conference on the Environment,
Have agreed as follows:
Chapter I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1
1 The aims of this Convention are to conserve wild flora and fauna and their natural habitats, especially those species and habitats whose conservation requires the co-operation of several States, and to promote such co-operation.
2 Particular emphasis is given to endangered and vulnerable species, including endangered and vulnerable migratory species.
Article 2
The Contracting Parties shall take requisite measures to maintain the population of wild flora and fauna at, or adapt it to, a level which corresponds in particular to ecological, scientific and cultural requirements, while taking account of economic and recreational requirements and the needs of sub-species, varieties or forms at risk locally.
Article 3
1 Each Contracting Party shall take steps to promote national policies for the conservation of wild flora, wild fauna and natural habitats, with particular attention to endangered and vulnerable species, especially endemic ones, and endangered habitats, in accordance with the provisions of this Convention.
2 Each Contracting Party undertakes, in its planning and development policies and in its measures against pollution, to have regard to the conservation of wild flora and fauna.
3 Each Contracting Party shall promote education and disseminate general information on the need to conserve species of wild flora and fauna and their habitats.
Chapter II. PROTECTION OF HABITATS
Article 4
1 Each Contracting Party shall take appropriate and necessary legislative and administrative measures to ensure the conservation of the habitats of the wild flora and fauna species, especially those specified in Appendices I and II, and the conservation of endangered natural habitats.
2 The Contracting Parties in their planning and development policies shall have regard to the conservation requirements of the areas protected under the preceding paragraph, so as to avoid or minimise as far as possible any deterioration of such areas.
3 The Contracting Parties undertake to give special attention to the protection of areas that are of importance for the migratory species specified in Appendices II and III and which are appropriately situated in relation to migration routes, as wintering, staging, feeding, breeding or moulting areas.
4 The Contracting Parties undertake to co-ordinate as appropriate their efforts for the protection of the natural habitats referred to in this article when these are situated in frontier areas.
Chapter III. PROTECTION OF SPECIES
Article 5
Each Contracting Party shall take appropriate and necessary legislative and administrative measures to ensure the special protection of the wild flora species specified in Appendix I. Deliberate picking, collecting, cutting or uprooting of such plants shall be prohibited. Each Contracting Party shall, as appropriate, prohibit the possession or sale of these species.
Article 6
Each Contracting Party shall take appropriate and necessary legislative and administrative measures to ensure the special protection of the wild fauna species specified in Appendix II. The following will in particular be prohibited for these species:
a all forms of deliberate capture and keeping and deliberate killing;
b the deliberate damage to or destruction of breeding or resting sites;
c the deliberate disturbance of wild fauna, particularly during the period of breeding, rearing and hibernation, insofar as disturbance would be significant in relation to the objectives of this Convention;
d the deliberate destruction or taking of eggs from the wild or keeping these eggs even if empty;
e the possession of and internal trade in these animals, alive or dead, including stuffed animals and any readily recognisable part or derivative thereof, where this would contribute to the effectiveness of the provisions of this article.
Article 7
1 Each Contracting Party shall take appropriate and necessary legislative and administrative measures to ensure the protection of the wild fauna species specified in Appendix III.
2 Any exploitation of wild fauna specified in Appendix III shall be regulated in order to keep the populations out of danger, taking into account the requirements of Article 2.
3 Measures to be taken shall include:
a closed seasons and/or other procedures regulating the exploitation;
b the temporary or local prohibition of exploitation, as appropriate, in order to restore satisfactory population levels;
c the regulation as appropriate of sale, keeping for sale, transport for sale or offering for sale of live and dead wild animals.
Article 8
In respect of the capture or killing of wild fauna species specified in Appendix III and in cases where, in accordance with Article 9, exceptions are applied to species specified in Appendix II, Contracting Parties shall prohibit the use of all indiscriminate means of capture and killing and the use of all means capable of causing local disappearance of, or serious disturbance to, populations of a species, and in particular, the means specified in Appendix IV.
Article 9
1 Each Contracting Party may make exceptions from the provisions of Articles 4, 5, 6, 7 and from the prohibition of the use of the means mentioned in Article 8 provided that there is no other satisfactory solution and that the exception will not be detrimental to the survival of the population concerned:
- for the protection of flora and fauna;
- to prevent serious damage to crops, livestock, forests, fisheries, water and other forms of property;
- in the interests of public health and safety, air safety or other overriding public interests;
- for the purposes of research and education, of repopulation, of reintroduction and for the necessary breeding;
- to permit, under strictly supervised conditions, on a selective basis and to a limited extent, the taking, keeping or other judicious exploitation of certain wild animals and plants in small numbers.
2 The Contracting Parties shall report every two years to the Standing Committee on the exceptions made under the preceding paragraph. These reports must specify:
- the populations which are or have been subject to the exceptions and, when practical, the number of specimens involved;
- the means authorised for the killing or capture;
- the conditions of risk and the circumstances of time and place under which such exceptions were granted;
- the authority empowered to declare that these conditions have been fulfilled, and to take decisions in respect of the means that may be used, their limits and the persons instructed to carry them out;
- the controls involved.
Chapter IV. SPECIAL PROVISIONS FOR MIGRATORY SPECIES
Article 10
1 The Contracting Parties undertake, in addition to the measures specified in Articles 4, 6, 7 and 8, to co-ordinate their efforts for the protection of the migratory species specified in Appendices II and III whose range extends into their territories.
2 The Contracting Parties shall take measures to seek to ensure that the closed seasons and/or other procedures regulating the exploitation established under paragraph 3.a of Article 7 are adequate and appropriately disposed to meet the requirements of the migratory species specified in Appendix III.
Chapter V. SUPPLEMENTARY PROVISIONS
Article 11
1 In carrying out the provisions of this Convention, the Contracting Parties undertake:
a to co-operate whenever appropriate and in particular where this would enhance the effectiveness of measures taken under other articles of this Convention;
b to encourage and co-ordinate research related to the purposes of this Convention.
2 Each Contracting Party undertakes:
a to encourage the reintroduction of native species of wild flora and fauna when this would contribute to the conservation of an endangered species, provided that a study is first made in the light of the experiences of other Contracting Parties to establish that such reintroduction would be effective and acceptable;
b to strictly control the introduction of non-native species.
3 Each Contracting Party shall inform the Standing Committee of the species receiving complete protection on its territory and not included in Appendices I and II.
Article 12
The Contracting Parties may adopt stricter measures for the conservation of wild flora and fauna and their natural habitats than those provided under this Convention.
Chapter VI. STANDING COMMITTEE
Article 13
1 For the purposes of this Convention, a Standing Committee shall be set up.
2 Any Contracting Party may be represented on the Standing Committee by one or more delegates. Each delegation shall have one vote. Within the areas of its competence, the European Economic Community shall exercise its right to vote with a number of votes equal to the number of its member States which are Contracting Parties to this Convention; the European Economic Community shall not exercise its right to vote in cases where the member States concerned exercise theirs, and conversely.
3 Any member State of the Council of Europe which is not a Contracting Party to the Convention may be represented on the committee as an observer.
The Standing Committee may, by unanimous decision, invite any non-member State of the Council of Europe which is not a Contracting Party to the Convention to be represented by an observer at one of its meetings.
Any body or agency technically qualified in the protection, conservation or management of wild fauna and flora and their habitats, and belonging to one of the following categories:
a international agencies or bodies, either governmental or non-governmental, and national governmental agencies or bodies;
b national non-governmental agencies or bodies which have been approved for this purpose by the State in which they are located,
may inform the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, at least three months before the meeting of the Committee, of its wish to be represented at that meeting by observers. They shall be admitted unless, at least one month before the meeting, one-third of the Contracting Parties have informed the Secretary General of their objection.
4 The Standing Committee shall be convened by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. Its first meeting shall be held within one year of the date of the entry into force of the Convention. It shall subsequently meet at least every two years and whenever a majority of the Contracting Parties so request.
5 A majority of the Contracting Parties shall constitute a quorum for holding a meeting of the Standing Committee.
6 Subject to the provisions of this Convention, the Standing Committee shall draw up its own Rules of Procedure.
Article 14
1 The Standing Committee shall be responsible for following the application of this Convention. It may in particular:
- keep under review the provisions of this Convention, including its appendices, and examine any modifications necessary;
- make recommendations to the Contracting Parties concerning measures to be taken for the purposes of this Convention;
- recommend the appropriate measures to keep the public informed about the activities undertaken within the framework of this Convention;
- make recommendations to the Committee of Ministers concerning non-member States of the Council of Europe to be invited to accede to this Convention;
- make any proposal for improving the effectiveness of this Convention, including proposals for the conclusion, with the States which are not Contracting Parties to the Convention, of agreements that would enhance the effective conservation of species or groups of species.
2 In order to discharge its functions, the Standing Committee may, on its own initiative, arrange for meetings of groups of experts.
Article 15
After each meeting, the Standing Committee shall forward to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe a report on its work and on the functioning of the Convention.
Chapter VII. AMENDMENTS
Article 16
1 Any amendment to the articles of this Convention proposed by a Contracting Party or the Committee of Ministers shall be communicated to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and forwarded by him at least two months before the meeting of the Standing Committee to the member States of the Council of Europe, to any signatory, to any Contracting Party, to any State invited to sign this Convention in accordance with the provisions of Article 19 and to any State invited to accede to it in accordance with the provisions of Article 20.
2 Any amendment proposed in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall be examined by the Standing Committee which:
a for amendments to Articles 1 to 12, shall submit the text adopted by a three-quarters