The importance of birds was recognised in 1979 by members of the then European Economic Community (EEC), which adopted the Birds Directive, the oldest EU legislation on nature protection.
Pomen ptic so države evropske gospodarske skupnosti (EGS), predhodnice današnje EU, prepoznale že leta 1979 in sprejele Direktivo o pticah, ki je najstarejši predpis EU s področja varstva narave.