The German endangered species protection law largely fails in curbing the risks of agriculture in the current biodiversity crisis. It fails to an extent that degrades it to symbolic law. Even after several attempts to implement the Habitats Directive, the current regulation is not in conformity with EU law. By its sentence 3, § 44 (4) BNatSchG places population protection of strictly protected species at the discretion of the administration. Despite some progress made, this constitutes a new circumvention of European standards. Incentive instruments can only partially compensate for the enforcement deficit of the regulatory law.