Following the first discussion held at the Environment Committee of the Cyprus Parliament on 29 June 2016 regarding a law amendment prepared by the Game and Fauna Service with title ‘The Protection and Management of Wild Birds and Game Species (Amendment) Law of 2016′, a law amendment regarding the Law 152(I)/2003 (read relevant June 2016 article here), a second discussion was held at the Environment Committee on 13 July 2016.

During both discussions at the Parliament, BirdLife Cyprus expressed its serious concerns and opposition to most of the amendments proposed by the Game and Fauna Service. You may find our official position letter as submitted to the Parliament on 13 July here (only in Greek).
 BirdLife Cyprus stressed that the proposed bill would introduce a series of relaxations and loopholes in the existing legislation, would make enforcement ineffective and that no public consultation had been undertaken by the Game and Fauna Service. During the follow up Parliamentary discussion that took place on 13 July 2016, the Environment Committee ordered the Game and Fauna Service to withdraw the bill, to carry out a meaningful public Consultation dialogue with all stakeholders and to bring the bill back to the Parliament for discussion in September, outlining the comments received by various stakeholders.

The Game and Fauna Service has recently announced that it will carry out a Public Consultation regarding these law proposals on 5 August 2016, which BirdLife Cyprus will attend. Our aim is to continue our lobbying effort for the withdrawal of all these unacceptable proposals that have been included, in order to prevent further relaxation of the current legislation, which are also in direct conflict with the provisions of the Birds Directive and if voted for could cause the Republic further headaches with the European Commission.