The Royal society for the protection of birds ( Lique Royal des protections des Oiseaux ) issued a formal complaint to the Supreme court questioning the legality of the use of a bow as a hunting tool. A second complaint was that they suspected an obstruction of justice by the Walloon Nature and Forest agents in the field.
The Supreme Court accepted the case and ruled the following;
On the complaint of legality of bowhunting in Wallonia; There is a void within the hunting legislation and hunting directives. But since the Walloon state didn’t take up the responsibility to change anything in the new hunting directives, the former law still imply that there are no legal terms stating it is illegal to use the bow and arrow as a hunting tool, Furthermore the Walloon state issued an extra rule making it illegal to use the bow and arrow in driven hunts when put in the same positions as firearm hunters. This mentioning of the bow gives the bow a legal status within the Walloon hunting directives. So the bow stil is a legal hunting tool in any form and in any method of hunting.
On the complaint of obstruction of justice; First of all the internal memo from the ministery to the Walloon Nature and Forest agency was not public.( and an investigation will be held on how the LRPO got this information. ). The supreme court rules that the LRPO or any other entity has no saying on how governmental agencies conduct their business. Since there are no legal definitions or requirements on bow nor arrows, it is impossible to verify these tools by the government officials in the field.
Since there is no higher court than the Supreme court, no further steps can be taken to question the use or the legality of bowhunting in Wallonia. The next step will be to install definition and minimum requirements on bow and arrows in 2025 when the hunting directives will be revised.