During the meeting of the EU Nature and Biodiversity Directors held in Tale, Slovakia on 10-12 October, the European Commission announced that the report on the fitness check of the Birds and Habitats Directives, under the Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT), awaited to come in the format of a Staff Working Document (SWD) together with follow up actions, is now expected to be released before the end of this year.

The full REFIT report of the consultants is publically available since earlier this year, and some of the conclusions of their findings relate to gaps and need for improvements related to implementation and financing. Furthermore, the consultants’ study considers the nature directives in general as “fit for purpose”.

For further details, please refer to the CEPF position paper and the full REFIT report of the consultants.