Cross compliance

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Cross compliance (translatable as " general compliance with the rules ", in German-speaking countries also referred to as "other obligations") is the binding of the payment of public funds, in particular agricultural subsidies, to compliance with legal or ethical standards from areas outside the stated primary purpose of these subsidies.

Since the mid-1980s, cross compliance has increasingly become a prerequisite in the agricultural policy of many industrialized countries for receiving premiums, which initially served purposes such as increasing production or competitiveness, price and market regulation or economic strength.

Introduction in the European Community

In the area of ​​the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Community , cross-compliance provisions were increasingly used with the reforms of Agenda 2000 and the Luxembourg decisions of 2003. H. the granting of premium payments was increasingly linked to compliance with other obligations. The 2003 reforms in particular tightened the provisions and extended them from environmental standards to the areas of food and feed safety, animal health and animal welfare . At the same time, cross-compliance obligations serve to legitimize subsidies in the domestic economy, since the higher level of protection compared to other countries means higher generation costs and this disadvantage compared to competitors from third countries has to be compensated for by direct payments.

Since January 1, 2005, the receipt of agricultural subsidies by farms has been dependent on their cross compliance, which must be systematically monitored.

The on-the-spot checks to be carried out in 2005 focused on the following areas:

Cross-compliance regulations of the European Union , funding period 2014–2020

Since January 1, 2014, other obligations have to be observed, which (2015 and 2016 supplemented by regulations for the conservation of grassland ( greening )) consist of

  • 13 Basic requirements for operational management ( GAB ) resulting from Union law, and
  • 7 standards for maintaining land in good agricultural and ecological condition ( GAEC ), which are defined in more detail nationally.

There are regulations from the three areas:

Environmental protection, climate change and good agricultural condition of the land

  • concerning water protection

→ GAB 1: protection against nitrate pollution ( Nitrate Directive )
→ GAEC 1: buffer zones to watercourses
→ GAEC 2: authorization rules for the water extraction for irrigation and
→ GAEC 3: the protection of groundwater from other pollutants,

  • pertaining to soil protection

→ GAEC 4: soil cover,
→ GAEC 5: soil erosion and the
→ GAEC 6: preservation of organic matter,

  • on biodiversity from the

→ GAB 2: Birds Directive and
→ GAB 3: Habitats Directive and

  • for landscape maintenance (GAEC 7)

Human, animal and plant health

  • on food safety from Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 (GAB 4) and Directive 96/22 / EC (GAB 5, i.e. on substances with a pharmacological effect),
  • for the identification and registration of pigs (GAB 6), cattle (GAB 7) and sheep and goats (GAB 8),
  • to protect against animal diseases, specifically TSE (GAB 9) and above
  • Bans on plant protection products (GAB 10), and

Animal welfare

for the protection of farm animals (GAB 13), especially addressed to breeders of calves (GAB 11) and pigs (GAB 12).

Control and sanction system

These cross-compliance regulations are checked systematically on the basis of risk analyzes for at least 1% of the beneficiaries annually, through so-called event checks and via the notification of violations by third parties such as the veterinary or environmental authorities.

If the specified obligations are not met, depending on the severity, extent, duration or frequency of the breach, up to 100 percent of the aid payments will be reduced for one or more calendar years. For this purpose, the violations in the various areas are weighted as light , medium or severe , as intentional or negligent and the sanction also depends on whether it was a first or repeated violation. While negligent violations can lead to a reduction of approx. 1 to 5% ( cap limit for all areas), in the case of repetition of up to 15% of the subsidy applied for, it is usually 20% for intentional violations of moderate severity particularly serious repeated violations up to 100%. However, the examiner has a discretion. The premium will only be reduced if the check is carried out in the year in which the premium applied for was approved.

The results of the so-called cross-compliance on-site controls are recorded in the central database in Munich. It is planned to set up a central InVeKoS database here , which has its origin in the cattle database of the Federal Republic of Germany. The legal implementation took place through an InVeKoS data law (InVeKoSDG).

Cross compliance is implemented in Germany by the Agricultural Payments Obligations Act (AgrarZahlVerpflG) and the Agricultural Payments Obligations Ordinance - AgrarZahlVerpflV.

In this context, importance is attached to the preservation of the organic matter in the soil (GAEC 6). If a company cultivates at least three crops with at least 15% each on its arable land, the requirements for maintaining the humus content are considered to have been met. If this is not the case, there are two possibilities: Either the farm will annually until 31.03. The following year, a humus balance is calculated or the humus content is determined every 6 years on all fields from a size of 1 ha by means of a soil analysis. Depending on the clay content, the following limit values ​​apply: clay content up to 13%: humus content over 1.0%, clay content over 13%: humus content over 1.5%

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ so the BMEL on EU agricultural policy , 2nd paragraph
  2. ↑ Regulation (EC) No. 1782/2003 of the Council of 29 September 2003 with common rules for direct payments under the common agricultural policy and with certain support schemes for owners of agricultural holdings and amending Regulation (EEC) No. 2019/93, ( EG) No. 1452/2001, (EG) No. 1453/2001, (EG) No. 1454/2001, (EG) No. 1868/94, (EG) No. 1251/1999, (EG) No. 1254 / 1999, (EC) No. 1673/2000, (EEC) No. 2358/71 and (EC) No. 2529/2001 , Articles 3–5 with Annex III and IV.
  3. ↑ Regulation (EC) No. 796/2004 of the Commission of April 21, 2004 with implementing provisions for compliance with cross-compliance obligations, for modulation and for the integrated administration and control system according to Regulation (EC) No. 1782/2003 of the Council with common rules for Direct payments under the common agricultural policy and with certain support schemes for farm owners
  4. ↑ Regulation (EC) No. 73/2009 of the Council of 19 January 2009 with common rules for direct payments within the framework of the common agricultural policy and with certain support schemes for owners of agricultural holdings and amending Regulation (EC) No. 1290/2005, ( EC) No. 247/2006, (EC) No. 378/2007 as well as repealing Regulation (EC) No. 1782/2003 , Articles 4-6 with Annexes II and III.
  5. ↑ Regulation (EU) No. 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of December 17, 2013 on the financing, administration and control system of the common agricultural policy and repealing Regulations (EEC) No. 352/78, (EC) No. 165/94, (EG) No. 2799/98, (EG) No. 814/2000, (EG) No. 1290/2005 and (EG) No. 485/2008 of the Council , Articles 91-95 with annex II.
  6. ↑ on this and on the following: Article 93 Paragraph 1 and Paragraph 2 of Regulation (EU) No. 1306/2013 (PDF) with a list in Appendix II, regarding Greening Article 93 Paragraph 3 and 4 of this Regulation
  7. ↑ for example Saxon State Ministry for the Environment and Agriculture, Cross Compliance 2019, pp. 73–78
  8. ↑ Cattle database of the Federal Republic of Germany
  9. ↑ InVeKoS-Daten-Gesetz - InVeKoSDG with the more specific InVeKoS-Ordinance - InVeKoSV
  10. ↑ Agricultural Payments Obligations Act - AgrarZahlVerpflG , regulated by January 1, 2015 in the Direct Payments Obligations Act - DirektZahlVerpflG
  11. ↑ Agricultural Payments Obligations Ordinance - AgrarZahlVerpflV , regulated until January 1, 2015 in the Direct Payments Obligations Ordinance - DirektZahlVerpflV