Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the "Report from the Commission on the European Parliament and the Council on Simplification of Agricultural Legislation"
Date: 2001-11-15
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: EU law, agrarian law, simplification of legislation

3.5.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 107/51

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Report from the Commission on the European
Parliament and the Council on Simplification of Agricultural Legislation’

(2002/C 107/16)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the second report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on
Simplification of Agricultural Legislation (COM(2001) 48 final);

having regard to the decision taken by the European Commission on 9 February 2001, under the first
paragraph of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, to consult the Committee
of the Regions on the matter;

having regard to its Bureau’s decision of 3 April 2001 to instruct Commission 2 for Agriculture, Rural
Development and Fisheries to prepare the Committee’s work on this subject;

having regard to the first report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on
Simplification of Agricultural Legislation (COM(1999) 156 final);

having regard to the report from the Commission to the European Council Better lawmaking 1999
(COM(1999) 562 final) (1);

having regard to the Commission’s White Paper on European Governance (COM(2001) 428 final);

having regard to its Opinion on the Commission Report to the European Council: ‘Better lawmaking
1998 — a shared responsibility’ (CdR 50/1999 fin) (2);

having regard to its Opinion on Young people in European farming — a blueprint (CdR 417/2000 fin) (3);

having regard to the Conclusions of the Agriculture Council on 23 October 2000 on Simplification of
the Management of the CAP;

having regard to the Conclusions of the Agriculture Council on 29 January 2001 on Simplification of
Agricultural Legislation;

having regard to the Conclusions of the Agriculture Council on 19 June 2001 on Simplification of
Agricultural Legislation;

having regard to the draft opinion (CdR 154/2001 rev. 2) adopted by Commission 2 on 9 October 2001,
(rapporteur: Mr Seamus Murray IRL/EA Member of Meath County Council, Member of Mid East Regional
Authority),

unanimously adopted the following opinion at its 41st plenary session held on 14 and 15 November
2001 (meeting of 15 November).

1. General comments

1.1.
The Committee welcomes the European Commission’s
report and continued efforts to simplify the complex array of
EU laws introduced in the agricultural field. This simplification
of agricultural legislation is a continuing process and there
must be a concerted effort by the Commission, the other EU
institutions and all concerned to make progress on this matter.

1.2.
The CoR agrees that simplification of agricultural
legislation must be pursued to increase clarity, transparency
and accessibility, to achieve human and financial efficiencies
and to reduce opportunities for fraud.

1.3.
The CoR endorses the Commission’s efforts to make
all agricultural texts clear, more coherent and unambiguous,
in order to ensure uniform application in all Member States.
This requirement
the more urgent because in the
agricultural field, texts that are finally adopted are often the
subject of compromises, which cannot always be transposed
easily into national laws.

is all

(1) OJ C 226, 8.8.2000, p. 60.
(2) OJ C 374, 23.12.1999, p. 11.
(3) OJ C 357, 14.12.2001, p. 29.

The Committee seeks that where appropriate,

the
1.4.
greatest possible scope is made for decision-making at regional
and local level.

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3.5.2002

1.5.
The CoR considers that especially in the light of
proposed Community enlargement, greater efforts be dedi-
legislation to avoid
cated to simplification of agricultural
excessive administrative and financial burdens on paying
agencies, national, regional and local authorities as well as on
agribusiness, farming and related interests.

The CoR welcomes the establishment of an ‘ad
1.13.
hoc working group’ comprised of representatives of
the
Commission and national administrations, which will analyse
proposals for simplified agricultural legislation and act as a
forum for discussion and consultation with Member States on
such proposals.

1.6.
The Committee welcomes the continued policy of the
Commission to provide consolidated versions of various
agricultural acts on the Commission’s website EUR-LEX. This
consolidated legislation incorporates recent amendments into
the basic text so that a single and updated version of the text
can be consulted on the website EUR-LEX. The CoR underlines
that although not legally binding these consolidated texts assist
in making EU agricultural acts simpler and accessible to all
potential users including national and European adminis-
trations, local and regional authorities, farmers, businesses and
those working in agriculture.

The Committee welcomes

the Commission pro-
1.7.
posal (1), to establish a ‘Small Farmers Scheme’ in order to
reduce the administrative burden of the CAP for farmers
receiving direct aid.

1.8.
The Committee welcomes the Commission proposals,
which harmonise and simplify the various promotional
measures for specific agricultural products (milk, olive oil,
beef, apples and citrus fruit etc.).

1.9.
The CoR welcomes the efforts by the Commission to
substantially amend and simplify all EU provisions concerning
trade mechanisms including rules on export and import
licences, export destination codes and the system of securities
for agricultural products.

1.10.
The Committee welcomes the on-going work of the
Commission, in the framework of Agenda 2000, to introduce
new simplified regulations for the common organisation of
different market sectors such as arable crops, wine, cotton,
sugar and fruit and vegetables.

1.11.
The Committee welcomes the Commission’s pro-
posals to simplify the various directives covering animal and
public health according to the type of product (i.e. fresh meat,
meat products, milk and milk products, eggs and egg products,
game meat etc.), as well as those directives concerned with
animal diseases such as swine fever or foot and mouth. These
proposals will result in a common hygiene regime for all food
covering the entire food chain ‘from farm to fork’.

1.12.
The CoR welcomes the conclusions of the Agriculture
Council of 23 October 2000 which called on the Commission
in particular, to clarify the rules on the non-application of
sanctions in cases where a farmer’s declaration is due to human
error and to prepare a proposal to introduce a single control
inspection per farm rather than multiple inspections for each
aid scheme separately.

(1) COM(2000) 841 final.

2. Recommendations

The Committee regrets that there is no reference to the
2.1.
CoR in the Commission’s report considering that EU legislation
is being implemented by local and regional authorities and
that agricultural legislation affects local and regional authorities
in their day-to-day business.

2.2.
The Committee urges that consideration of existing
simplification proposals submitted to the Commission be
expedited and that once accepted, be implemented as soon as
practicable.

2.3.
The Committee is pleased to see so many consolidated
agricultural acts placed on the Commission’s website EUR-LEX.
It does however consider that there are serious shortcomings in
terms of the user-friendliness of these documents that need to
be rectified. Appendices in tabular form are not available in
the EUR-LEX system and the CoR feels that in the agricultural
to the interpretation and
field these are often essential
implementation of legislation.

The Committee,

in relation to the ‘Small Farmers
2.4.
Scheme’ believes that the eligibility criteria should be adapted
so as to permit as many farmers as possible in the regions to
participate in the scheme. The maximum payment level for
farmers receiving direct aid to qualify should be increased from
EUR 1 250 to EUR 2 000 for the scheme to be effective.

The CoR believes that

2.5.
in addition to the market
organisation premiums, other premiums could also be
included e.g. direct payments to encourage environmentally
friendly farming, compensatory payments for natural disad-
vantages, etc.

2.6.
The Committee believes that in relation to the pro-
motional measures for specific agricultural products the
increasing use of national co-funding in administrating these
programmes is placing further administrative burdens on
national authorities and may result in national measures that
are overly complex. The CoR is of the view that the Com-
mission should look at ways in which local and regional
authorities might assist
in avoiding undue administrative
burdens implementing these promotion schemes.

2.7.
The Committee believes that the Commission should
continue in its efforts to simplify provisions concerning trade
licenses,
mechanisms (export refunds, export and import
securities) so as to avoid cumbersome administrative pro-
cedures for paying agencies and farmers.

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2.8.
The CoR believes that in relation to the new BSE
measures affecting the common market organisation of the
beef sector, the Commission proposes to introduce beef quotas
on an individual rather than a national basis which will add to
the administrative burden of national authorities.

2.9.
The CoR asks the Commission to look at the way
Member States operate quota regimes for other products such
as milk, sugar, wine, and olive oil. The national implementing
measures can be very cumbersome and add to the administrat-
ive burden on farmers. The national quota rules can also be
very inflexible in relation to the leasing of quotas by farmers.
The CoR would suggest that the Commission should prepare
proposals aimed at rectifying the many anomalies in the way
Member States administer quota regimes.

2.10.
The Committee asks the Commission to look again
at the bookkeeping year issue in relation to EAGGF funds that
was noted in the First Report on the Simplification of
Agricultural Legislation. The bookkeeping year runs from
16 October to 15 October the following year, necessitating
October to be divided between two financial years. The CoR
believes that changing the close of the bookkeeping year to
the end of October would entail real simplification both for
national paying agencies and the Commission.

2.11.
The Committee asks the Commission to introduce a
proposal for a single control inspection per farm to cover

Brussels, 15 November 2001.

applications for all EU aid schemes, as a matter of urgency,
taking into account that such a proposal would not be a means
to facilitate fraud. It also asks that the percentage of spot
checks be increased as part of these proposals. At the same
time ensuring that simplification benefits the farmers as well
as public administration.

The Committee calls on the Commission to investi-
2.12.
gate the possibility of introducing a cost-benefit analysis of all
agricultural proposals in terms of the financial consequences
which will be borne by Member State administrations and
in particular local and regional authorities where they are
competent, similar to the cost-benefit implications for SMEs
provided in all internal market proposals at present.

The CoR requests that the Commission involves the
2.13.
Committee of the Regions in the work of the ‘ad hoc working
group’, so that the Commission and Member States would
have an input from local and regional authorities who have
important responsibilities in implementing EU agricultural law
at the local and regional level.

2.14.
The Committee calls on the Commission, Council and
Parliament not to unnecessarily delay adoption of proposed
simplification measures. At the same time, the Committee calls
on local and regional authorities to enact these measures
immediately so that farmers and the agricultural industry can
obtain the full benefits of these simplification measures.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos CHABERT