Opinion of Mr Advocate General

Mr President,

Members of the Court,

1. The Italian Republic is alleged to have failed to fulfil its obligations under Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds, the provisions of which have not, apparently, been transposed fully and correctly into Italian law within the prescribed period.

2. The Italian Government does not deny that the national legislation relating to the transposition of the provisions of the directive is in some respects defective. However, it considers that the allegations are for the most part unjustified in view of the fact that, as it stated in its defence, a draft law designed to implement the directive in full is now before Parliament.

3. The substance of the Commission's allegations is that the Italian legislation fails to comply with Directive 79/409/EEC in six respects, which I shall consider in turn:

4. To summarize, in these proceedings there are two perfectly documented instances of insufficiency.

5. In the light of all the foregoing considerations, I am of the opinion that the first and the fifth complaints should be upheld, the second and third complaints should be partially upheld, and the fourth and sixth complaints should be dismissed.

1 Translated from llic Portuguese.

2 See, for example, the judgments of 2 December 1980 in Cases 42/80 and 43/80 Commission v Italian Republic [1980] ECR 3635, at p. 3640, and 3643, at p. 3648.

3 See, for example, the judgment of 25 September 1979 in Case 232/78 Commission v France [1979] ECR 2729; the judgment of 9 December 1981 in Case 193/80 Commission v Italy [1981] ECR 3019; and the judgment of 8 February 1983 in Case 124/81 Commission v United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland [1983] ECR 203.

4 See the judgments cited in the preceding note and also the judgment of 22 March 1983 in Case 42/82 Commission v France [1983] ECR 1013; the judgment of 27 March 1984 in Case 50/83 Commission v Italy [1984] ECR 1633, at p. 1633; and the judgment of 15 January 1986 in Case 121/84 Commission v Italy [1986) ECR 107, 111.

5 See, for example, the judgment of 8 February 1983 in Case 124/81, supra, [1983] ECR 203; the judgment of 31 January 1984 in Case 74/82 Commission v Ireland [1984] ECR 317; and the judgment of 11 July 1984 in Case 51/83 Commission v Italy [1984] ECR 2793.

6 See, for example, ihe judgment of 15 April 1970 in Case 28/69 Commission v Italy [1979] ECR 196 and 197; the judgment of 25 October 1979 in Case 159/78 Commission v Italy [1979] ECR 3265; and the judgment of 8 January 1980 in Case 21/79 Commission v Italy [1980] ECR 16.