Polish president signed amendment on forests/nature protection, which clarifies the EU regulations

The president signed an amendment to the act on forests and the act on nature protection, which is a response to the call of the European Commission to remove inaccuracies, including the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, the Chancellery of the President informed.

The purpose of the act is to introduce changes to the act of 28 September 1991 on forests and the act of 16 April 2004 on nature protection. The justification to the draft act indicates that the introduced changes are primarily the result of analyzes of practical experience in applying the provisions of the above-mentioned acts and are aimed at eliminating the identified problems, improving the actions taken and clarifying the doubts that arise, according to its announcement.

The act is also a reaction to the call of the European Commission for removal. In its request, and then in the reasoned opinion, the European Commission indicated that the provisions of the Act on forests and the ordinance of the Minister of the Environment on the requirements of good practice in the field of forest management, the so-called Code of good practice, result in violation of the Directives on the protection of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora, the so-called the Habitats Directive, as well as the Directive on the conservation of wild birds, the so-called the Birds Directive.

In the opinion of the European Commission, the currently binding provision of the Act on Forests constitutes a wide derogation from the prohibitions on strictly protected species, in particular strictly protected species under EU directives, as it excludes the provisions of the Nature Conservation Act specifying these prohibitions.

In order to avoid a dispute with the European Commission, in response to the reasoned opinion, Poland indicated that it would propose a new wording of the provision, which would correspond to the provisions of the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, and would start working on a new wording of the Code of Good Practice, it was also stated.

Source: ISBnews