Andrew Bird is presenter at Expert Conference on the EU Approach against Wildlife Trafficking

Andrew Bird was a panellist and gave a presentation on the EU approach to Wildlife Crime at a conference in Brussels.

The conference attracted over 200 delegates – enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges and policymakers from all 28 Member States of the EU, as well as from “source countries” such as South Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo, and “destination countries” such as China. It concludes a period of consultation by the European Commission on this subject.

Delegates showed particular interest in Andrew’s case study relating to R v Sissen [2001] 1 WLR 902, in which Simon Draycott Q.C. and Vivian Walters had appeared for the Crown. Andrew had dealt with the associated Judicial Review of condemnation proceedings and James Fletcher has dealt with enforcement of the £150,000 confiscation order. The various aspects of this case are of considerable importance both in domestic law and as a success for international law enforcement.

The conference was introduced by Janez Potocnik, European Commissioner for the Environment and Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy MEP, and also received an address from John Scanlon, Secretary-General of CITES.