No date has been set yet by the European Court of Justice for a decision to be taken over a request by the European Commission to issue interim measures against Malta in order to ban spring hunting.

Sources close to the ECJ yesterday confirmed that the only information available at the moment is that "the decision will be communicated to the parties by the end of this month."

The Maltese government had declared it would await the ECJ ruling before deciding on this year's spring hunting season dates, but hunters are exerting pressure on the government to declare the spring season open.

"We are very concerned," government sources told The Times. "We have made it clear that the earlier the ruling is delivered the better. But, at the moment we still have no clue on when we should expect the ECJ decision."

It is understood that, although it might be just a matter of a few more days, in the past similar court rulings have at times taken a month to be issued. There is also a technical aspect to this as the court ruling will have to be translated into all the official languages of the EU - 23 in all - before it is made public. This usually takes some time.

"Technically there is no delay," the ECJ sources said. "Following the hearing, the president of the court needs to write the order, it needs to be translated and then it will be served on the parties. This takes time. Obviously, given the nature of the request it will be done as quickly as possible but an interim measures order typically takes a few weeks to be produced from the date of the hearing. It can sometimes be done in a week or so; at other times it can take longer, perhaps a couple of months - it all depends on the case."

Asked whether it was possible that a decision might not be taken before three more weeks, the sources said: "It might take another couple of weeks, but then it may not. All we can say at this stage is that it will be done as soon as possible and, most probably, before the end of the month. Unfortunately, we cannot be more specific than this at the moment."

According to ECJ rules, there are no time limits as to when the president of the court should issue his decision.

The European Commission yesterday did not wish to comment on the matter. Asked by The Times whether it is exerting any pressure on the ECJ to take a decision, the only response was that "the Commission is expecting a court decision very shortly."

Following a court hearing early last week in Luxembourg, many were expecting the president of the court to hand down his ruling immediately after. But, following the hearing, an ECJ spokesman only said that the decision will be given "in due course" without specifying any dates. The sitting was held behind closed doors and followed written submissions by the prosecution and the defence teams.

Last week's hearing dealt only with the Commission's request to the court to issue interim measures so that no spring hunting will take place in Malta until a decision on the original case against the Maltese government is concluded. The original case, registered as 76/08 last February, has still to commence and is expected to take two years until it is concluded.