The first draft proposed the following legal
amendments and provisions:
- The removal of bird-callers from Schedule VIII
of the Conservation of Wild Birds Regulations (SL 549.42) and thus
proposed to render their use and possession subject to Court referral and
the penalties set out in regulation 27.
- Provisions to enable a person who is not
licensed as a bird-ringer, in accordance with regulation 23(2), to capture
certain birds for the purpose of geo-tagging, followed by their immediate
release back into the wild, subject to:
·
the submission of an application to the Wild
Birds Regulation Unit by not later than two (2) months prior to the geo-tagging
commencement date, including details of the species and quantity, the proposed
methodology, including proposed dates, and the sites where geo-tagging will be
carried out, in accordance with regulation 23(3)(c);
·
the recommendations of the Ornis Committee,
in accordance with regulation 10(6);
·
the conditions specified in the licence
issued for the purpose of geo-tagging by the Wild Birds Regulation Unit; and
·
prior training on geo-tagging.
- An
amendment to paragraph (b) of
the third proviso to sub-regulation (2) of regulation 27 to include “Part XV of
the Code of Police Laws”.
- An
amendment to the English version of the third proviso to sub-regulation
(3) of regulation 27 to remove reference to ‘hunting’ in the sentence: “ordered the
disqualification from obtaining a hunting licence for life”.
Ornis
recommendations and proposed legislative draft
During its meeting held on 17
March, the Ornis Committee did not agree that bird-callers should be
rendered immediately subject to Court referral. The Committee proposed a
two-step approach, retaining bird-callers for first-time offenders subject to
an administrative fine just below the minimum penalty set out in regulation 27
(that is, just under €500), followed by Court referral for repeat offenders and
thus subject to the penalties set out in regulation 27.
The Committee agreed to limit suspension and
permanent revocation of the relevant
licence, rather than all licences. This means that if a person is in possession
of both a hunting and trapping licence and commits a hunting offence, his
trapping licence is not suspended (or revoked) and vice-versa.
The Committee also agreed that the proposal on
geo-tagging should be revisited to include additional elements such as in
relation to the training course.
Proposed legislative
draft
The current legislative draft
reflects the recommendations of the Ornis Committee during its meeting held on 29
March and 05 May, 2021. These can be summarised as follows:
- Suspension/revocation limited to the
relevant licence only.
- All geo-tagging projects to include a
bird-ringing component in line with regulation 23(2), whilst rendering the
bird-ringing requirement as optional in relation to huntable species
(included in Schedule II of SL 549.42). The legal amendment also includes
the procedures required for applicants to submit a geo-tagging proposal as
specified by the Ornis Committee.
- The introduction of a 12-point penalty
system to regulation 27A and Schedule VIII of SL 549.42. Each offence
category in Schedule VIII is assigned a number of points, ranging from two
to four. Once an individual accumulates an aggregate of twelve points or
more during a two-year period, his general licence (the one associated
with the offences committed in case he has multiple licence categories)
will be suspended by the Wild Birds Regulation Unit for a period of one
(1) year, in line with the proposed amendment to regulation 11.
All
points will be reset to zero if the licensee does
not commit other offences as found in Schedule VIII within two years from the
date of last offence.
Three
new administrative fines have been included in Schedule VIII, currently subject
to immediate Court referral:
·
Live-decoys in excess of the limit
permitted by virtue of a live-capturing special licence.
·
Failure to comply with the minimum cage
dimensions as specified in the special licence for the relevant species.
·
Failure to report specimens subject to
Article 9(1)(c) derogations that are fitted with a scientific ring to the Wild
Birds Regulation Unit and/or failure to immediately release them back into the
wild after the details of the scientific ring have been recorded. Article 9(1)(c)
derogations are those that permit the keeping of birds caught, currently
limited to Golden Plovers and Song Thrushes by virtue of S.L.549.74.
4. The fines pegged to each
offence category are proposed to remain as those listed in the current Schedule
VIII of S.L.549.42. No increase in fines are proposed.