Europe's 50,511 farming rules: A massive and uneven regulatory burden

The investigation carried out by the European Evaluation Helpdesk for the CAP revealed that mandatory requirements tend to be more stable across member states, and the main source of variation between countries lies in the number of non-mandatory requirements.

Farmers across Europe complain about their burden of legal and regulatory obligations in the everyday management of their farms, or when they apply for CAP funds or take part in schemes.

Now, researchers have found that there are 50,511 different requirements for farmers across the 27 member states. The good news is that Ireland is one of the member states with 1,000 or less requirements.

The number of requirements is highest in Italy (more than 3,500), Portugal (nearly 3,500), Spain (more than 3,000), France (just over 2,500), Hungary and Slovenia (both around 2,300), Germany (nearly 2,000), and Finland (around 1,900).

The investigation carried out by the European Evaluation Helpdesk for the CAP revealed that mandatory requirements tend to be more stable across member states, and the main source of variation between countries lies in the number of non-mandatory requirements.

Mandatory requirements apply to all farmers. These include the minimum baseline that farmers must comply with to access CAP support such as BISS (basic income support for sustainability) and eco-schemes. Most farmers in the EU receive the BISS and are thus affected by the accompanying requirements.

Although eco-schemes are voluntary for farmers to take up, their financial importance (25% share of direct payments) encourages many farmers in most member states to comply with the associated requirements.

There are also legally binding non-CAP obligations where farmers have no discretion in compliance, such as the EU Nitrates Directive and Water Framework Directive. Other requirements refer to voluntary CAP schemes such as agro-environmental and climate measures.

The European Evaluation Helpdesk findings consistently show that regulatory burden is primarily shaped by implementation conditions rather than by the existence of requirements themselves.

The investigators said simplification lies less in reducing policy ambition than in improving co-ordination, interoperability, clarity, flexibility and usability of the overall compliance system.

It was found that distribution of requirements across member states does not follow a single clear pattern.

• Portugal has the second-highest number of requirements despite its rather small size.
• Germany, one of the largest member states, has fewer requirements than expected.
• Slovenia, although relatively small, has many requirements.
• The investigators said Ireland has a very small number of requirements while being a relatively large member state.

The highest total number of requirements across the EU come under the heading of “Biodiversity and landscape”. The biodiversity burden is heaviest in Portugal. Belgium, and Italy.

The farmers with most animal health requirements are in Portugal. Denmark, Sweden, and Finland have the most animal welfare requirements.

There are more than 500 climate and greenhouse gas requirements for farmers in Belgium (compared to less than 100 in Ireland).

Organic farming is characterised by a relatively limited overall number of requirements, with requirements highest in France, Italy, Latvia, Slovenia, and Spain.

Belgium, and Italy have the highest number of plant health and plant protection requirements. Soil requirements are most numerous in Belgium and Portugal. Water requirements are most numerous in Spain and Italy.