The EU court's ruling that finch trapping for "research purposes" was illegal was based on "minor breaches" of the European directive, minister Clint Camilleri told Times of Malta.

"The court did not say it was against the principle of the research derogation, but only that Malta's legislation allowing finch trapping needed to include more details about why and how the research is conducted," the hunting minister said on Thursday.

The minister was reacting to a decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union which on Thursday ruled that Malta's finch trapping for "research purposes" was illegal because the government's project does not establish a genuine research purpose and, therefore, cannot be justified.

The ruling came after the European Commission took the Maltese government to court over its 2020 decision to allow the trapping of wild finch for research purposes.

Camilleri told Times of Malta that issues the Commission had brought up - such as the use of the terminology "citizen science", using clap nets to capture birds, live and electronic decoys and lack of enforcement, had not been mentioned in the court's judgment.

The ruling only said that Malta did not explain the details of its research well enough in its legislation, Camilleri said.

One reason for that shortcoming could be linked to Malta's British legal system: "Maltese legal notices usually do not explain the story behind the law. On the other hand, European legislation contains much more background".

Camilleri added the court had concluded that Malta's current legal framework for how the research trapping occurred was "clear and precise".

Camilleri, who attended the court's ruling in person, said the government was committed to following the judgement, but it still needed to decide how it would do so.

Asked if finch trapping will continue in Malta, Camilleri said: "In the coming days, we will study the judgment in detail and decide the way forward in Cabinet".