The European Commission has adopted nine new legal acts to cut administrative requirements under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), including changes it said could save farmers across the bloc up to €215 million a year.
The measures update “secondary legislation” — detailed rules that sit under the main CAP laws — and follow a simplification roadmap published on 14 May 2025, the Commission said on Friday.
Some of the changes are expected to reduce the time farmers spend on CAP-related administration by around 20% in certain cases.
A key set of amendments affects the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS), the system used to manage CAP payments linked to land and animals.
Annual checks of two digital elements — the Geospatial Aid Application (a mapping-based application farmers use for CAP claims) and the Area Monitoring System (remote monitoring of land) — will be simplified from 2026, with assessments limited to eligibility conditions that can be checked remotely using mainly Copernicus satellite data.
Member states will also be able to bundle corrective actions across the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), the Geospatial Aid Application and the Area Monitoring System, a change that reduces the need for physical farm visits.
Changes for reporting, producer groups and hemp rules
Farmers will no longer have to record their use of plant protection products in the geospatial application, avoiding duplicate reporting while keeping the separate, general obligation to keep such records under existing EU rules, the Commission said.
Rules for how member states scrutinise certain CAP-related transactions have also been simplified, with more emphasis placed on risk analysis when selecting which businesses to check.
Several changes affect producer organisations, particularly those operating across borders: transnational producer organisations will be approved in the country where they are based, and rules on market withdrawals — including in the fruit and vegetable sector — will be less rigid, with simpler marketing standards for withdrawn products.
The Commission also said rules for hemp cultivation will be eased, including fewer checks and more flexibility for new varieties.
Member states will be given more flexibility to amend their CAP strategic plans, while the annual performance report required under the policy will be simplified to focus on “need-to-know” data.
The changes build on a broader CAP simplification package first proposed on 14 May 2025 and published on 31 December 2025 after adoption by the EU’s co-legislators.
Source - https://www.brusselstimes.com
