During the designation the rare or endangered species listed in Annex I of the ’Bird Directive’ is concerned first of all. Moreover, special attention has to be paid to the wetlands of international importance, the so called ’Ramsar sites’. Designated areas should, as far as possible, be organized into a coherent network.
Designations in most of the countries, thus in Hungary, too, are based on the criteria system of Important Bird Areas (IBA) developed by BirdLife International, an international organization for the protection of birds.
There are 55 Special Protection Areas designated in Hungary, which became part of the Nature 2000 Network by the enforcement of government decree Nr. 275/2004 (X.8.).