ACTION 28
"The Executive will continue to press the European
Commission to allow further simplification on such things
as proportionality of penalties, obvious errors, inspection
procedures and detailed scheme rules."
Progress
Due to the complex nature of the Common Agriculture
Policy (CAP) Scheme rules there will always be a need to
seek improvements in the overarching regulatory
requirements. In general, SEERAD cannot deliver
simplification unilaterally, thus progress tends to be slow
as Member States work towards acceptable compromise
solutions.
Simplification proposals are identified annually and an
agreed UK position submitted for discussion.
Changes achieved include:
- A new Commission Regulation in
December 2001 which revised the detailed rules for
applying IACS for CAP Schemes. This introduced a new
penalty regime which, in some areas, reduced the effect
of the financial penalties for certain type of
errors.
- Revised EC guidance on the
application of the obvious error rules, issued in June
2002.
- Revised EC guidance for
on-the-spot checks of area and area measurement, issued
in May 2003.
The CAP reform agreement should aid simplification.
Bureaucracy will be reduced, but not eliminated, under the
new system as the six existing schemes are replaced by one
(the Single Farm Payment scheme). There will still be
checks and requirements as the receipt of public funds
comes with conditions.
Links
- Scottish Executive CAP reform
website:-
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Agriculture/CAPRef
There will always be a need to improve
procedures, but decisions on the implementation of the
CAP reform Agreement mean that Action 28 is now largely
achieved.
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