The European Commission Wednesday said it is sending Bulgaria a first written warning in two separate cases over its failure to properly transpose EU environmental laws into its national legislation.

In the first case Bulgaria will receive a letter of warning from the European Commission for failing to properly transpose the EU directive on the conservation of natural habitats and wild flora and fauna. The directive requires Member States to designate protected sites as part of the Natura 2000 network, the EU network of protected areas.
Under the agreement on its accession to the European Union Bulgaria was obliged to transpose fully the Habitats Directive into national law by January 1, 2007. However, the national legislation does not correctly reflect European legislation such as the definition of sites, habitats and species.

In addition, the commission notes the lack to provide for procedures which can be used to adequately assess potential impact and compensation measures in case of development projects on the sites of the Natura 2000 network.
After scrutiny of the information sent by Bulgaria on the transposition of the directive the commission concluded that Bulgaria had failed to comply with a number of provisions of the Habitats Directive.

The commission will also send a first written warning to Bulgaria for failure to transpose correctly the directive on the conservation of wild birds, particularly the requirement on information and research for key conservation issues.
Upon accession to the European Union on January 1, 2007 Bulgaria was obliged to transpose fully the Wild Birds Directive. Based on the information provided by Bulgaria, the Commission concluded that it had failed to transpose the EU's oldest piece of nature conservation legislation into national law.

The commission is unlikely to have to resort to legal action against Sofia as the warnings prompted the dilly-dallying Bulgarian law-makers to quickly regain their speed-dial efficiency.
The eco ministry has moved to parliament a batch of amendments to the Biodiversity Act, bypassing the otherwise standard but cumbersome process of co-ordinating the bill with all competent authorities before it is voted on by the MPs.

The parliament's environment protection policy committee Wednesday approved changes to the Protected Areas Act, making unappelable in court all orders issued by June 30, 2007 designating a particular area as protected. Another new provision in the Act discontinues all ongoing court appeals of such orders.(Dnevnik)