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Invasive Alien Species – The Eradication or Use of Invasive Alien Species Under EU Law

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Sustainability and Law

Abstract

The EU adopted a Regulation striving to tackle one of the primary threats to biodiversity, namely Invasive Alien Species (“IAS”). The article provides an overview of the IAS Regulation and discusses the Union list, the listing criteria as well as the restrictions set forth. The concept of ecosystem services is addressed as it is newly introduced in an EU legislative act. Furthermore, the obligations to detect and eradicate IAS are outlined and the four “ways” to derogate from the eradication-obligation are analyzed taking into account the European Commission’s (“EC”) opinion. Additionally, the management provision, particularly commercial use, is reviewed. To determine an understanding of commercial use, the specific exceptions – permits granted for research, ex-situ conservation and scientific production and subsequent medicinal use as well as authorizations in exceptional cases for reasons of compelling public interest – are scrutinized. Subsequently, concrete categories of “compelling public interest“ are developed, relying on provisions under the Habitats and Water Framework Directives and case law by the Court of Justice of the EU (“CJEU”).

This Article is based on Frommelt F (2018) Doctoral Thesis “Invasive Alien Species – A Study on the Legal Framework dealing with Invasive Alien Species”. Vienna.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Any provision in this article without explicit reference to a legal act refers to the IAS Regulation.

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  1. Reidlinger Schatzmann Rechtsanwälte GmbH, Vienna, Austria

    Felix Frommelt

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  1. Department of Ecotechnology and Sustainable Building Engineering Mid Sweden University, Östersund, Sweden

    Volker Mauerhofer

  2. Department of Economics, University of Messina (Italy), Messina, Italy

    Daniela Rupo

  3. Department of Economic Studies, University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, Pescara, Italy

    Lara Tarquinio

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Frommelt, F. (2020). Invasive Alien Species – The Eradication or Use of Invasive Alien Species Under EU Law. In: Mauerhofer, V., Rupo, D., Tarquinio, L. (eds) Sustainability and Law. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42630-9_24

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