Subjects:

EU Law

Contents:

Introduction

Common Agricultural Policy Reforms

Eligibility and the Single Payment

Entitlements to the Single Payment

Cross Compliance

Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC)

Statutory Management Requirements (SMRs)

Permanent Pasture

Inspections and Controls

Calculating the Single Payment

The Single Payment: Reductions, Exclusions and Errors

Transfer of Entitlements

Challenging a Determination

Judicial Review

Taxation and the Single Payment

Criminal Offences and Penalties

Appendices

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the pan-European mechanism for regulating farming produce and prices. The Single Payment Scheme, which came into force in May 2005, replaced a number of existing direct subsidy schemes, including the Arable Area Payments Scheme and the Sheep Annual Premium Scheme. The aim of the new scheme is to afford farmers greater flexibility to respond to the demands of the market by ‘decoupling’ subsidies from production.

In addition, food safety, animal and plant welfare, and environmentally–friendly practices have gained increasing importance and will receive greater financial rewards. The change represents the biggest shake up in European farming for many years, and the aim of this new book is to produce a comprehensive and authoritative work on the law, regulation and enforcement of the common agricultural policy as it affects England & Wales.