Judgment in the case concerning wolf hunting
Government Communications Unit
Press Release 174/2007
13 June 2007
The Court of Justice of the European Communities will pass judgment in a Finnish case concerning the hunting of wolves on Thursday, 14 June. The case in question is an action brought by the Commission of the European Communities against the Republic of Finland. The Commission claims in its action that Finland is in breach of the EC Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC).
According to the Habitats Directive, the hunting of wolves is prohibited as a general rule. This may be derogated from only on the preconditions referred to in the Directive. The Commission claims that these preconditions are not fulfilled because the level of protection of wolves is not favourable in Finland and other alternative methods are available. The Commission also claims that permits for the hunting of wolves are regularly issued without there being a properly ascertained connection with individuals causing particularly significant damage.
The Finnish Government deemed in the written part of the procedure that the practice complied with in Finland is not in conflict with the Habitats Directive. The practice complied with in Finland has not had an adverse impact on the level of protection of wolves and its maintenance. In Finland, there are many different methods of preventing and reducing the damages caused by wolves. However, these alternative solutions are not sufficient in all individual cases. Finland stated that the Habitats Directive enables derogation from the strict protection system in order to prevent particularly serious damage. According to the Finnish system, hunting permits are applied for separately. The applications must be substantiated. It is important that permits are not granted automatically, but according to law the permit authority must always investigate the preconditions for derogation.
Advocate General Juliane Kokott put forward her proposal on the case on 30 November 2006. In her proposal, Ms Kokott claimed that Finland has violated the Habitats Directive. According to the Advocate General, Finland has permitted the hunting of wolves although it cannot prove that the preconditions for derogation have been fulfilled.
The judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Communities are available on the Court’s website at http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=en(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window). The judgments are usually available on the afternoon of the day of their publication. The case number is C-342/05.
Further information: Johanna Himmanen, Legal Officer, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 5716, and Sami Niemi, Senior Officer, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, tel. +358 9 1605 3374 or +358 400 238 505