The Government is prepared to defend Malta’s right to derogate in the Court of Justice of the European Union, the government said in a statement,

The government was referring to the European Commission’s decision to refer Malta to the European Court of Justice concerning application of derogation under Article 9(1)(c) of the EU Birds Directive to permit, under strictly supervised conditions, live-capturing of seven species of finches.

This derogation was subject to extensive discussions during a series of bilateral technical meetings held between representatives of the Maltese authorities and European Commission, as well as subject to written correspondence whereby the Maltese authorities have provided the Commission with the detailed technical, scientific and legal account of Malta’s compliance with the European law.

Despite common understanding reached on some legal aspects of the derogation, Commission appears to have not taken into consideration the technical and scientific materials provided to it in relation to this derogation, and thus continued to maintain that the derogation is in breach of Articles 5(a) and (e), Article 8(1) and Annex IV, point (a), read in conjunction with Article 9(1), of the EU Birds Directive 2009/147/EC.

Upon considering the recommendations of the Malta Ornis Committee which followed a thorough assessment of the scientific and technical considerations pertaining to the application of this derogation, the Government has ascertained that the application of limited and strictly controlled live-capturing derogation meets all the parameters of Article 9 (1)(c) of the Birds Directive, including the “no other satisfactory solution”, “judicious use”, “small numbers”, “selectivity” and “strict supervision” criteria.

The Government furthermore ascertained, through a scientific assessment, that the application of this derogation does not negatively impact the population status of the seven finch species. 

Whilst the Commission is mandated under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to pursue infringement procedures and initiate legal action in circumstances where it believes that a Member State has infringed EU law, the Government is prepared to defend Malta’s right to derogate in the Court of Justice of the European Union.