Nature conservation; plants; authorisation for the commercial removal, treatment or processing of wild plants

  • Service description

    Anyone wishing to collect wild plants or parts thereof for trade or commercial purposes (e.g. wild flowers, blueberries, moss, ferns, lichens, etc.) requires the permission of the owner as well as authorisation from the lower nature conservation authority. This is to prevent the over-utilisation of such wild plants. The authorisation can be subject to conditions, e.g. to protect the wild plants from a reduction or eradication that would endanger the species. If the conditions are not sufficient for protection, the removal must be prohibited.

    The authorisation specifies which plant species, which parts, which quantities and where they may be collected.

    The collector must carry the authorisation with them when collecting and hand it over to the police or regulatory authorities for inspection on request.
     

    • Plants within the meaning of the Federal Nature Conservation Act also include:
    • wild plants, plants obtained by artificial propagation and dead plants of wild species,
    • Seeds, fruits or other developmental forms of plants of wild species,
    • readily recognisable parts of plants of wild species and
    • readily recognisable products derived from plants of wild species.

    Lichens and fungi are also considered plants within the meaning of this law.

  • Which documents are required?

    The written application must specify which plant species, which parts or products, which quantities and at which locations (useful: map sections) they are to be collected. Authorisation is granted if the population of the species concerned is not endangered at the place of collection and the ecosystem is not significantly impaired. When deciding on collections for the purpose of regional seed production, the favourable effects on the objectives of nature conservation and landscape management must be taken into account. The nature conservation authority checks the completeness of the documents (see under deadlines).

  • What fees are incurred?

    Official acts under nature conservation law are generally subject to a charge. The current administrative cost regulations do not provide for a separate cost rate for this; it is advisable to enquire with the nature conservation authorities.

  • What deadlines do I have to observe?

    The nature conservation authority shall examine the application documents and inform the applicant within one month of receipt of the application whether the documents are complete or what further information it requires to fully assess the facts of the case.

    If a decision is not made on an application for authorisation within a period of one month, it shall be deemed to have been granted if the application is sufficiently specific. The period begins with the receipt of the complete documents. It may be reasonably extended once if this is justified due to the difficulty of the matter. The extension of the deadline must be justified and communicated in good time. Upon request, the person who should have been notified of the administrative act must be given written confirmation of the fictitious authorisation.

  • Legal basis

  • What else should I know?

    The rights of the owners and other authorised users remain unaffected. This also includes measures within the scope of proper agricultural or forestry land use that do not require authorisation under nature conservation law (e.g. logging, marketing of decorative brushwood and Christmas trees, etc.).

    Further information and advice can be found on the website of the Hessian Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in the nature conservation section and on the websites of the regional councils of Kassel, Darmstadt and Giessen. Many districts and cities with their own lower nature conservation authority have their own website, from which you can find direct contact details.

  • Remarks

    The lower nature conservation authorities as well as the police authorities, district regulatory authorities and local regulatory authorities are authorised to carry out inspections and investigations into compliance with species protection regulations. The veterinary authorities, the hunting authorities and the agricultural and forestry authorities must inform the competent nature conservation authority of any infringements that they discover in the fulfilment of their duties.

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Who should I contact?

In principle, the application must be submitted to the lower nature conservation authority. In a few exceptional cases, responsibility lies with the respective regional council.

In Hesse, the lower nature conservation authority is the municipal administration for towns with more than 50,000 inhabitants, otherwise it is the district administration.

Responsible departments