Habitats Directive

The Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC) is the EU law on conservation of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora, adopted in 1992. It requires member states to designate Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) for habitat types in Annex I and species in Annexes II, and to maintain or restore favourable conservation status. Together with the Special Protection Areas designated under the Birds Directive, SACs form the Natura 2000 network, which in 2023 held over 27,000 sites covering about 18.6 percent of EU land and 10.5 percent of its marine area. Article 6 governs assessment of plans and projects affecting these sites.