The announcements were made at a meeting of the Council of the European Union Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers in Brussels this Monday.
This first key measure provides for preventive preliminary checks as part of the aid application process. This should allow national administrations to identify problems with farmers' applications so that, even up to 35 days after the final date of submission, farmers will be allowed to make corrections without incurring any penalties.
According to European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan, identifying errors early in the process should reduce the risk of penalties and reductions of payments for farmers. This should also make life simpler for national administrations and contribute to the reduction of the error rate in the CAP as a whole.
The Commissioner said the measure should take away a lot of the uncertainty linked to filling out forms and the ever-present fear of fines and disallowances that many farmers experience.
Conditions for on-the-spot checks to change
The reduction of inspections will be achieved by modifying the conditions under which on-the-spot checks are necessary. The Commissioner outlined that it will allow national administrations to target on-the-spot checks where they will have the greatest effect. “Where overall error rates are below 2% and member states have updated their LPIS within the last three years, it will be possible to reduce the on-the-spot-checks from 5% to only 1% of the sample size,” he said.
This measure will significantly relieve the burden on farmers and national administrations alike. The number of on-the-spot controls and checks can also be reduced by increasing the efficiency of the selection, particularly by carrying out a range of different inspections during the course of a single on-the-spot check. Ireland has already being going down this route.
This responds directly to the concerns of farmers, who feel they are subject to a number of unnecessary and repeat inspections over the course of the year, in situations where one inspection would serve perfectly well to gather all the relevant information.
Greening and YFS modifications
Another simplifying measure would provide farmers with further possibilities to modify their declaration regarding the use of agricultural parcels for the purpose of greening. This practical proposal will have a positive impact on farmers who may need to adapt their cultivation plan during the growing season.
The Commissioner is also proposing to simplify the rules applying to the Young Farmers Scheme. “I intend to give discretion to national administrations regarding the access to the Young Farmers Scheme of legal bodies jointly controlled by young farmers and other farmers who do not meet the young farmer criteria,” said Hogan. The change comes after the request of several member states to have greater flexibility and subsidiarity in determining which legal persons could qualify as young farmers.
The Commissioner said he does not see simplification as a one-off measure, but rather an ongoing process. He intends to continue the process next year with further opportunities for simplification being identified and implemented.
“Work is already well advanced on other parts of the simplification package pertaining to market measures. I expect that further new delegated regulations will be adopted in the first half of 2016 in relation to marketing standards, fruit and vegetables, trade mechanisms, carcase classification and member states' notifications,” he said.
The aim is a massive reduction in the number of Commission-level common-market organisations (CMO) regulations from around 200 presently to around 40 delegated and implementing regulations. This will make the job of national administrations easier and lead to significant cost and resource efficiencies for competent authorities across the EU.
Coveney welcomes measures
Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney welcomed the package of simplification initiatives announced by the Commission this Monday, although he added that the details of the new provisions need to be clarified.
The Minister also welcomed the increased flexibility proposed in the approval and amendment process for Rural Development Programmes (RDP).
Speaking at the meeting, Minister Coveney said: "I have long advocated a more proportional and risk-based approach to controls and I'm sure farmers will welcome the simplification of the inspection regime. This is a very significant pro-farmer practical measure that will be strongly welcomed in Ireland."
In relation to the increased flexibility on the RDP, Minister Coveney said: "I welcome this announcement. I have been calling on the Commission to simplify the implementation of the CAP and this announcement regarding the RDP will allow member states such as Ireland amend their Programmes to target specific measures as conditions we operate in are constantly changing.”
Pig market supports for early 2016
Ministers also discussed developments in trade negotiations (including TTIP), the current market situation and the School Milk and Fruit and Vegetable Scheme.
The Minister called on the Commission to implement market support measures in light of the continuing uncertainty the pigmeat sector and welcomed the Commissioner's announcement that these measures will be in place in early 2016.
Commenting on the proposals, IFA deputy president Tim O’Leary said: “The proposed reduced inspection rate from 5% to 1% announced by the EU Commission today is a welcome development." However, he added that more needs to be done to ensure that there is a greater flexibility in the interpretation of rules governing inspection.
“The Commission must go further and ensure that payments are not held up for the most spurious of reasons, as we are seeing this year when many farmers’ payments have been held up because of issues such as dual claims, over-claims, digitisation, etc.”
Read more
Minister defends payments
A Farmer Writes: An inspector calls
Legal query: Unannounced inspection under Basic Payment Scheme
The announcements were made at a meeting of the Council of the European Union Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers in Brussels this Monday.
This first key measure provides for preventive preliminary checks as part of the aid application process. This should allow national administrations to identify problems with farmers' applications so that, even up to 35 days after the final date of submission, farmers will be allowed to make corrections without incurring any penalties.
According to European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan, identifying errors early in the process should reduce the risk of penalties and reductions of payments for farmers. This should also make life simpler for national administrations and contribute to the reduction of the error rate in the CAP as a whole.
The Commissioner said the measure should take away a lot of the uncertainty linked to filling out forms and the ever-present fear of fines and disallowances that many farmers experience.
Conditions for on-the-spot checks to change
The reduction of inspections will be achieved by modifying the conditions under which on-the-spot checks are necessary. The Commissioner outlined that it will allow national administrations to target on-the-spot checks where they will have the greatest effect. “Where overall error rates are below 2% and member states have updated their LPIS within the last three years, it will be possible to reduce the on-the-spot-checks from 5% to only 1% of the sample size,” he said.
This measure will significantly relieve the burden on farmers and national administrations alike. The number of on-the-spot controls and checks can also be reduced by increasing the efficiency of the selection, particularly by carrying out a range of different inspections during the course of a single on-the-spot check. Ireland has already being going down this route.
This responds directly to the concerns of farmers, who feel they are subject to a number of unnecessary and repeat inspections over the course of the year, in situations where one inspection would serve perfectly well to gather all the relevant information.
Greening and YFS modifications
Another simplifying measure would provide farmers with further possibilities to modify their declaration regarding the use of agricultural parcels for the purpose of greening. This practical proposal will have a positive impact on farmers who may need to adapt their cultivation plan during the growing season.
The Commissioner is also proposing to simplify the rules applying to the Young Farmers Scheme. “I intend to give discretion to national administrations regarding the access to the Young Farmers Scheme of legal bodies jointly controlled by young farmers and other farmers who do not meet the young farmer criteria,” said Hogan. The change comes after the request of several member states to have greater flexibility and subsidiarity in determining which legal persons could qualify as young farmers.
The Commissioner said he does not see simplification as a one-off measure, but rather an ongoing process. He intends to continue the process next year with further opportunities for simplification being identified and implemented.
“Work is already well advanced on other parts of the simplification package pertaining to market measures. I expect that further new delegated regulations will be adopted in the first half of 2016 in relation to marketing standards, fruit and vegetables, trade mechanisms, carcase classification and member states' notifications,” he said.
The aim is a massive reduction in the number of Commission-level common-market organisations (CMO) regulations from around 200 presently to around 40 delegated and implementing regulations. This will make the job of national administrations easier and lead to significant cost and resource efficiencies for competent authorities across the EU.
Coveney welcomes measures
Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney welcomed the package of simplification initiatives announced by the Commission this Monday, although he added that the details of the new provisions need to be clarified.
The Minister also welcomed the increased flexibility proposed in the approval and amendment process for Rural Development Programmes (RDP).
Speaking at the meeting, Minister Coveney said: "I have long advocated a more proportional and risk-based approach to controls and I'm sure farmers will welcome the simplification of the inspection regime. This is a very significant pro-farmer practical measure that will be strongly welcomed in Ireland."
In relation to the increased flexibility on the RDP, Minister Coveney said: "I welcome this announcement. I have been calling on the Commission to simplify the implementation of the CAP and this announcement regarding the RDP will allow member states such as Ireland amend their Programmes to target specific measures as conditions we operate in are constantly changing.”
Pig market supports for early 2016
Ministers also discussed developments in trade negotiations (including TTIP), the current market situation and the School Milk and Fruit and Vegetable Scheme.
The Minister called on the Commission to implement market support measures in light of the continuing uncertainty the pigmeat sector and welcomed the Commissioner's announcement that these measures will be in place in early 2016.
Commenting on the proposals, IFA deputy president Tim O’Leary said: “The proposed reduced inspection rate from 5% to 1% announced by the EU Commission today is a welcome development." However, he added that more needs to be done to ensure that there is a greater flexibility in the interpretation of rules governing inspection.
“The Commission must go further and ensure that payments are not held up for the most spurious of reasons, as we are seeing this year when many farmers’ payments have been held up because of issues such as dual claims, over-claims, digitisation, etc.”
Read more
Minister defends payments
A Farmer Writes: An inspector calls
Legal query: Unannounced inspection under Basic Payment Scheme
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