WILDLIFE (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2000

• “(3A) Where any thing has been seized under this Act is, in the opinion of any person entitled to seize it, of a perishable nature, then the thing seized may be sold or otherwise destroyed as appropriate and where it is sold the person causing it to be sold shall out of the proceeds of such sale defray all expenses incurred in the seizure, removal, storage and sale of it and, except where a court has otherwise decided in relation to the thing so sold or court proceedings relating to the thing so sold have been instituted but not concluded, shall pay the surplus of such proceeds to the person who at the time of the seizure was the owner of it.”,

and

• (e) by the deletion of subsections (5), (6) and (7),

and the said subsections (1) (other than paragraph (a)) and (3), as so amended, are set out in the Table to this section.

TABLE

• (1) A person who, in accordance with this Act, has seized any document or other thing shall not dispose of it—

• (b) in the case of any thing other than a document, unless a direction is given pursuant to this section by a Judge of the District Court for its disposal.

• (3) A Judge of the District Court to whom an application in that behalf is duly made under this section shall, if he is satisfied that any thing in respect of which the application is made is likely, before it can be used as evidence in proceedings for an offence under this Act, to become unfit for human consumption, or if he is satisfied for any other reason that the thing ought not to be further detained, give a direction under this section authorising its disposal (by destruction or otherwise).

PART VII Miscellaneous Amendment of Enactments

72. Amendment of Forestry Act 1946.

72.—The Forestry Act 1946, is hereby amended—

• (a) by the insertion, in subsection (4) of section 37, of the following after paragraph (b):

• “(bb) the tree is standing on land held or managed by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, or”,

and

• (b) by the insertion, in section 62, of the following after subsection (1):

• “(1A) Where either or both the wood and land to which subsection (1) of this section relates is or forms part of either or both wood and land to which Chapter III of Part II, or Regulation 17 or 18, of the European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1997 (S.I. No. 94 of 1997), applies, then the Minister may only serve a notice under subsection (1) of this section—

  • (a) where all relevant provisions of the European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1997, have been complied with, and

  • (b) where appropriate, the service of the notice under subsection (1) of this section is necessary for the imperative reasons of overriding public interest as provided for in those Regulations and Article 6 of Council Directive No. 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora^(1).”.

73. Amendment of Registration of Title Act 1964.

73.—The Registration of Title Act 1964 (as amended by section 66 of the Principal Act), is hereby amended by the insertion, in subsection (1) of section 69, of the following after paragraph (rr):

• “(rrr) an order under section 18(1) of the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000;”.

74. Amendment of State Property Act; 1954.

74.—The State Property Act 1954, is hereby amended by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph 1 of the First Schedule to that Act:

“1A. Any land acquired under the Wildlife Acts, 1976 and 2000.”.

75. Amendment of European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1997.

75.—The European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1997 (S.I. No. 94 of 1997), are hereby amended—

• (a) in Regulation 2, by the substitution of the following for the definition given to “European site”:

“‘European site' means—

• (a) a site—

  • (i) notified for the purposes of Regulation 4, subject to any amendments made to it by virtue of Regulation 5, or

  • (ii) transmitted to the Commission in accordance with Regulation 5(4), or

  • (iii) added by virtue of Regulation 6 to the list transmitted to the Commission in accordance with Regulation 5(4),

  but only until the adoption in respect of the site of a decision by the Commission under Article 21 of the Habitats Directive for the purposes of the third paragraph of Article 4(2) of that Directive,

• (b) a site adopted by the Commission as a site of community importance for the purposes of Article 4(2) of the Habitats Directive in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 21 of that Directive,

• (c) a special area of conservation,

• (d) an area classified pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of Article 4 of the Birds Directive;”,

and

• (b) by the revocation of Regulations 21, 22 and 39.