General

Non-domestic or non-cultivated animal or plant species and their habitats may be conserved for one of the following reasons:

• Their particular scientific interest
• Their essential role in the ecosystem
• Preserve a natural heritage.

Thus, the following actions may be prohibited when they impact these species:

For animals:

• Destruction or removal of eggs or nests, mutilation, destruction, capture or removal, intentional disturbance, naturalization of animals of these species
• Transport, peddling, use, possession, offering for sale, sale or purchase of animals of these species, whether alive or dead

For plants:

• Destruction, cutting, mutilation, grubbing-up, gathering or removal of plants of these species, their fruiting plants or any other form taken by these species during their life cycle
• Transport, peddling, use, offering for sale, sale or purchase, holding of specimens taken from the natural environment of plants of these species

Concerning habitats:

• Destruction, alteration or degradation of their habitats
• Destruction, alteration or degradation of sites of geological interest, including natural or artificial underground cavities, as well as the removal, destruction or degradation of fossils, minerals and concretions present on these sites
• Installation of telephone poles and paravalanche net poles and anti-landslide hollow and unplugged.

Protection orders

The lists non-domestic animal species and non-cultivated plant species subject to the prohibitions shall be indicated in interministerial orders.

For each species, orders may specify the following:

• Nature of prohibitions which are applicable
• Duration of these prohibitions and periods of the year concerned
• Parts of the territory where they apply.

The order depends on whether the species is animal or plant, and the group to which the species belongs.

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Animal

The orders concerning protected animal species differ according to whether they are:

Aquatic vertebrates (fish, mammals, turtles, etc.)

The following are the orders concerning respectively:

• The species of protected fish
• Some fish and amphibians whose range exceeds the territory of a department
• Specificities related to the protection of sturgeons
• The marine mammals
• The sea turtles.

Aquatic invertebrates (corals, molluscs, crayfish, etc.)

The following are the orders concerning respectively:

• The crayfish
• Some marine invertebrates
• Some aquatic molluscs
• Some corals.

Birds

The following are the orders concerning respectively:

• The list of birds of metropolitan France and the Drom 
• The conditions of protection and marketing of certain species of birds in the national territory
• The list of birds represented in the department of Guadeloupe protected throughout the national territory
• The list of birds represented in the community of Saint-Martin
• The list of birds represented in the community of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
• The birds of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (penguins, albatrosses, terns, etc.).

Terrestrial vertebrates

The following are the orders concerning respectively:

• Vertebrates whose range exceeds the territory of a department (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, etc.)
• Terrestrial mammals protected throughout the territory
• Mammals represented in the community of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon protected throughout the national territory
• Specificities in the protection of common hamster
• Amphibians and reptiles.

Terrestrial invertebrates (insects, molluscs)

The following are the orders concerning respectively:

• Insects
• Molluscs.

Plant

The orders concerning protected plant species differ according to whether they are plants:

Terrestrial

The orders respecting terrestrial plants are as follows:

List of protected plant species throughout the territory

Legifrance

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Production, import and marketing of protected plant species

Legifrance

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Aquatic

The order respecting marine plants reads as follows:

List of protected marine plant species

Legifrance

Pour en savoir plus

The existence of areas dedicated to the protection of ecosystems may indicate the presence of protected species: Natural area of ecological, faunistic and floristic interest (ZNIEFF), zone Natura 2000, wetlandetc.

The project leader must then examine the reasons for this classification.

In the absence of such areas, the project owner must nevertheless ensure the absence of protected species or habitats.

Where interministerial orders provide that prohibitions may be enacted in certain parts of the territory for a fixed period or during certain periods of the year, the date of entry into force and termination of such prohibitions shall be fixed by prefectural decree.

The prefectural decree is:

• Posted in each of the municipalities concerned
• Published at Compendium of Administrative Acts (AAR) (available on the website of department prefecture)
• Published in 2 regional or local newspapers distributed throughout the department.

By way of derogation, for maritime public domainHowever, these measures are the responsibility of the minister responsible for marine fisheries.

General

Issuance of exemptions prohibitions may be imposed on conditions following:

• There is no other satisfactory solution that can be evaluated by a third-party expert
• And the derogation shall not affect the maintenance of the populations of the species concerned in their natural range in a favorable conservation state.

The derogation may be pronounced for any of the following reasons :

• In the interest of the protection of wild fauna and flora and the conservation of natural habitats
• To prevent significant damage to crops, livestock, forests, fisheries, waters and other forms of property
• In the interest of public health and safety
• For other imperative reasons of overriding public interest, including of a social or economic nature, and for reasons which would have primary beneficial consequences for the environment. Projects meeting these criteria are: renewable energy production or energy storage facilities in the electricity system, including their power transmission and distribution grid connections, and nuclear power reactor or nuclear fuel storage facilities.
• For the purposes of research and education, restocking and reintroduction of those species and for the reproduction operations necessary for those purposes, including the artificial propagation of plants
• To permit, under strictly controlled conditions, selectively and to a limited extent, the taking or holding of a limited and specified number of certain specimens.

The exemptions granted shall specify the execution conditions of the operation concerned. They may be subject to the maintenance of a register.

Cases where no derogation is necessary

No derogation is required when a project:

• Includes avoidance and reduction measures with guarantees of effectiveness such that they reduce the risk of destruction or disturbance of protected species to the point that this risk appears not to be sufficiently characterized
• And incorporates a tracking device that allows both:
  
  • To assess the effectiveness of these measures
  • And, where relevant, to take any additional measures necessary to ensure that there is no significant negative impact on the maintenance of populations of the species concerned at a favorable conservation status.

General

In order to benefit from a derogation from the protection of protected species, the next steps :

• Complete the exemption application form corresponding to the protected species and the type of exemption concerned
• Send request
• Wait for the decision to accept or reject the request for exemption.

Completing the application form

The form to be completed for the derogation application depends on the type of protected species (animal or plant) and the type of derogation.

Sending the request

Derogations must be addressed to the prefecture of the department of the place of operation for which the derogation is requested:

• Dreal: titleContent (Metropolitan France outside Île-de-France)
• Drieat Île-de-France: titleContent
• Deal: titleContent (in the Drom: titleContent).

The contacts of these services are available here:

In the following cases and as an exception, they must be sent to the Minister responsible for nature protection:

• Operations with objectives of research and education conducted in more than 10 departments by legal persons placed under the tutelage or control of the State
• Where they concern animals belonging to a protected vertebrate species, threatened with extinction in France because of its low numbers and whose range exceeds the territory of a department, for the following operations: removal, capture, destruction, transport for reintroduction into the natural environment, destruction, alteration or degradation of the particular environment of the species.

Decision

Silence kept for more than 4 months on an application for a derogation, a decision shall be taken rejection.

The derogations are granted :

• Either as permanent public or private institutions engaged in scientific research or in the creation of collections of national interest
• Either for a limited duration, unless renewed at the request of the beneficiary, to other legal persons or to natural persons.

In case of denial, the decision shall specify the reasons for the refusal.

In the event ofgranting a derogation, the decision shall specify the reasons for the derogation and, if necessary, depending on the nature of the proposed operation, the conditions for it, in particular:

• Details of the identity of the beneficiary
• Scientific name and common name of the species concerned
• Number and sex of specimens covered by the derogation
• Period or dates of intervention
• Locations of intervention
• Where appropriate, reduction or compensation measures implemented, with beneficial consequences for the species concerned and a deadline for the transmission to the decision-making authority of the assessment of their implementation
• Qualification of persons called upon to intervene
• Description of the intervention protocol
• Conditions for drawing up the minutes of the interventions
• Period of validity of the derogation
• Special conditions that may be imposed. In the case of population inventories of animal or plant species, the granting of the derogation may be conditional on the transfer of the data collected to databases and in a given format.

With the exception of decisions concerning transport between establishments or persons authorized to keep animals of non-domestic species, decisions shall be published in the administrative acts of the department.

The beneficiary of a derogation may transfer it to another person. The new beneficiary shall declare the transfer to the prefect or, in the cases concerned, to the minister responsible for nature conservation. The statement must be made at least one month before the effective date of the transfer.

This statement mentioned :

• If the new beneficiary is a natural personname, surname and address of domicile
• If he's a legal personits name or business name, its legal form, the address of its registered office and the status of the signatory of the declaration
• The nature of the activities of the new beneficiary and justifies the qualification of the persons required to implement the authorized operation.

Within the time limit ofone month from the date of receipt of the declaration, the authority which received it:

• Either accept the transfer and issue a receipt
• Either refuse the transfer, in the event that the new beneficiary does not have sufficient capacity to comply with the conditions attached to the derogation. Such refusal shall be notified to the initial beneficiary of the derogation and to the author of the declaration.

If, within one month, that authority has neither issued a receipt for the declaration nor refused the transfer of the derogation, that transfer shall be authorized.

Substantive changes

All substantial change an activity, facility, structure or work which has benefited from one of the derogations from the protection of protected species must be the subject of the issue of a new derogation.

This applies regardless of whether the modification occurs before the project is carried out or during its implementation or operation.

A change to an activity, facility, work or work is considered substantial if it:

• Constitutes an extension to be the subject of a new environmental assessment
• Or is likely to cause significant hazards and disadvantages to protected species.

Other changes

Any changes non-substantial an activity, facility, structure or work which has benefited from one of the derogations from the protection of protected species must be notified, whether it takes place before the project is carried out or during its implementation or operation.

The beneficiary of the derogation must bring it to the attention of the competent administrative authority (prefecture or ministry responsible for nature), before its realization, with all the elements of assessment.

The authority may impose additional requirements on the occasion of these amendments. It may also issue an order at any time if it appears that compliance with those provisions is not ensured by the fulfillment of the initial requirements.

The beneficiary of the derogation may request an adaptation of the requirements imposed by the Decision. THEno response to this request for more than 2 months from the acknowledgement of receipt shall be considered as a decision of rejection.

Derogations may be suspended or revoked if the conditions laid down are not complied with.

A penalty of 3 years' imprisonment and €150,000 of fine (natural persons), or €750,000 of fine (legal persons) is provided for the fact, in violation of the prohibitions or requirements provided for in a derogation and in the regulations:

• Undermining the conservation of protected animal species
• Undermining the conservation of protected plant species
• To undermine the conservation of natural habitats of protected species.

Attempts to commit these offenses are punishable by the same penalties.

The fine is doubled when the offenses are committed in the heart of a national park or in a nature reserve.