As reported by the European Commission on its official portal agriculture.ec.europa.eu, this week the Commission adopted nine new pieces of secondary legislation within the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The decisions are aimed at reducing excessive bureaucracy, lowering the regulatory burden, and increasing the competitiveness of the agricultural sector and the entire agri-food chain.

According to the Commission’s estimates, the new changes will allow farmers and national administrations in EU Member States to save up to €215 million annually. In some cases, farmers will be able to reduce the time spent on administrative procedures by approximately 20%, allowing them to focus more on production rather than reporting.

Main areas of simplification

The changes предусматривают wider use of digital technologies and remote monitoring. In particular, requirements for the annual quality assessment of digital components of the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS), used to manage CAP payments, have been simplified. This concerns the Geospatial Aid Application (GSA) and the Area Monitoring System (AMS).

Starting in 2026, the quality assessment of AMS and GSA will cover only those conditions that can actually be verified remotely, mainly using satellite data from the Copernicus programme. This will significantly reduce the number of physical on-farm inspections.

In addition, Member States are allowed to combine corrective actions related to LPIS, GSA, and AMS, which simplifies procedures at the EU level and further reduces the administrative burden.

Less reporting for farmers

Farmers are no longer required to record the use of plant protection products in the GSA geospatial system. This eliminates duplicate reporting and reduces time costs, while the general requirement to keep records of such products, as provided for by existing EU legislation, remains in force.

Rules for checking certain CAP-related transactions have also been simplified. The new approach places greater emphasis on comprehensive risk analysis and gives Member States more flexibility in selecting control targets.

Relief for cooperatives and specific sectors

Some changes concern producer organisations, particularly those operating in more than one EU country. From now on, transnational producer organisations will be approved in the country of establishment, which avoids duplication of procedures.

In addition:

  • rules for market withdrawal of products (in particular in the fruit and vegetable sector) have been simplified;
  • the complexity of marketing standards for products withdrawn from the market has been reduced;
  • conditions for growing industrial hemp have been eased, with fewer checks and more flexibility regarding new varieties.

More flexibility for Member States

The European Commission has also granted EU countries additional freedom to amend their CAP strategic plans. This is intended to help them respond more quickly to the needs of the agricultural sector. In addition, the annual performance report has been simplified — it will focus only on key indicators, helping to avoid duplication of data.

Context

On 14 May 2025, the European Commission presented a comprehensive package to simplify the core CAP legislation for the 2023–2027 period. After revisions, the document was approved by the EU co-legislators and published on 31 December 2025. The new decisions continue this course and are part of a broader policy to reduce the administrative burden in the agricultural sector.

Source: agriculture.ec.europa.eu