Associations cannot challenge federal decree on wolf culls
Published: Friday, Jun 28th 2024, 12:10
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The right of appeal of environmental organizations against federal approval of wolf culls is not effective. According to the Federal Administrative Court, the organizations can only challenge the culling decisions of the respective cantons.
For this reason, the Federal Administrative Court has not upheld two appeals lodged by Pro Natura, WWF Switzerland and the Swiss Society for the Protection of Birds against rulings issued by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). In the contested rulings from November, the FOEN authorized the shooting of certain wolves and packs in the cantons of Graubünden and Valais.
This approval is merely an upstream part of an administrative procedure, writes the Federal Administrative Court in a ruling published on Friday. Only with the cantonal order to shoot wolves is it considered a so-called population regulation, as provided for by law. The approval of the federal government is absorbed by the cantonal shooting order because the enforcement of the Hunting Act is the responsibility of the cantons.
If the environmental organizations already had a right of appeal against the FOEN's approval, according to the court, this would lead to duplication, which should be avoided for reasons of legal certainty. Access to the cantonal appeal process against the respective cantonal rulings would guarantee access to an appeal procedure.
Federal approval as a condition
The three environmental organizations had argued before the Federal Administrative Court that no wolves could be shot without the prior consent of the federal government. Because this approval is mandatory, the cantons have practically no freedom of decision with regard to the form of their orders. The decisive authority is the FOEN and not the respective canton.
As the ruling of the Federal Administrative Court shows, the organizations criticized the fact that in the case of the canton of Valais, the FOEN had only carried out a "very superficial examination of the obviously insufficient application for approval". It had therefore seriously breached its duty of examination.
In the appeal against the FOEN decision for the canton of Graubünden, they complain that the FOEN did not carry out a more thorough examination of the files. Otherwise, the Federal Office would have noticed the deficiencies in the application and should have rejected it.
The judgment is not yet final and can be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court. (Judgment A-6831/2023 of 17.7.2024)
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