A friend of mine was wondering at what size a pine sapling becomes a pine tree and can saplings be cut down without any questions being asked,he also wanted to know what was the situation if they are impedeing an olive trees growth.

Ian tell your ''friend''
In the dark anything up to 80 metres tall is classed as a weed.
In daylight anything over 2 cm tall is the most protected tree in Catalonia and must never ever be touched.
Anyway we need the trees for the processional caterpillars;D

I'd heard ealier in the year that pine trees had now been 'declassified' as a protected species here and that they
could now be chopped down but I haven't looked into this to see if true.

Christmas around the corner eh?  ;)