Public consultation on the Birds and Habitats Directive

Birds and Habitats Directives can be strengthened by guidance, clearer legislation and cross-border cooperation As part of its strategy to review legislation for common sense, the European Commission has chosen to look at birds and the Habitats Directive. The background to the questionnaire is that as part of its 2015 work plan, the European Commission will be reviewing a number of pieces of legislation. One of the Commission's wishes is to look at the wisdom and possibility of merging the two directives that make up Natura 2000:

1. The 2009 Birds Directive, which aims to protect special species of Europe's wild birds and their breeding and wetland habitats called Special Protection Areas.
2. The 1992 Habitats Directive, which takes a broader approach to protecting animal species in general and preserving natural areas called Special Areas of Conservation.

Many Danish ports have had their share of problems with the legislation. It is therefore interesting to include these concrete experiences in the evaluation, which covers the following:

1. The perceived positive effects of the legislation
2. The negative effects of legislation - administrative burden and where the burden is disproportionate to the actual environmental benefit
3. Do the ports want to evaluate and possibly merge the two legislations or are they better as they are despite the hassle.

Read Port Denmark's response to the public consultation here