Opinion of Mr Advocate General Van Gerven delivered on 8 November 1990

1 Original language: Dutch.

2 OJ 1979, L 103, p. 1.

3 Article 2 requires Member States to take the requisite measures to maintain the population of the species referred to in Article 1 at a level which corresponds in particular to ecological, scientific and cultural requirements, while taking account of economic and recreational requirements, or to adapt the population of these species to that level.

4 United Nations Treaty Series Vol. 638, p. 185.

5 In 1974 the Commission recommended the Member States, if they had not already done so, to accede to that Convention. See Commission Recommendation 75/66/EEC of 20 December 1974 to Member States concerning the protection of birds and their habitats (OJ 1975, L 21, p. 24).

6 GURI No 3,4.1 1978.

7 The coot (No 19) and the mallard (No 7) are mentioned in Annex 11/1 to the Directive, which sets out the species of birds which may be hunted in the Community as a whole. The moorhen (No 45) and the blackbird (No 68) appear in Annex II/2 to the Directive among the species of birds which may be hunted in Italy (and in certain other Member States).

8 Cramp, S., Simmons, K. E. L., and others: Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Oxford, 1977, Vols 1-5

9 Bezzel, E.: Kompendium der Vogel Mitteleuropas, Wiesbaden, 1985.

10 GURI No 1, 2.1.1980.

11 GURI No 155, 8.6.1982.

12 Judgment of 8 July 1987 in Case 262/85 Commission v Italian Republic [1987] ECR 3073

13 See, inter alia, the Court's judgment of 17 October 1977 in Case 30/77 R v Bouchereau [1977] ECR 1999, paragraph 14.

14 Set Anide 130R(3)(i) of the EEC Treaty

15 See in particular the Court's judgment in Case 262/85, Commiision v Italian Republic, cited above, paragraph 9.

16 The Commission stated at the hearing that, with the exception of the aforementioned report of the Institute, practically no scientific data are available for Italy. The Italian Government did not contradict the Commission on that point. The passages from Glutz von Blotzheim which it cites do not contain any specific data for Italy either but, in comparison with the extracts from Cramp & Simmons, they contain more detailed data with regard to Czechoslovakia.

17 See the report of the aforementioned institute, p. 10, paragraph I.

18 Ibid, p. 10, paragraphs 2 and 4.

19 Ibid, p. 10, paragraph 3.

20 For completeness' sake, it must be pointed out that the Italian report does leave open certain doubts as to those two species of birds. As far as the redshank is concerned it appears from the graph set out in the report that specimens may be taken in Italy as from 15 February. As for the curlew, the Institute's finding is based on a few data, which might suggest that the sample was not representative.