This week, the Commission adopted nine further acts under the CAP’s secondary legislation to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and regulatory burden, in line with its commitment to simplification and to strengthening the competitiveness of the farming sector and the wider agri-food value chain.
These changes follow the simplification roadmap of 14 May 2025 and show that the Commission is responding to the sector’s needs and delivering on its promises: cutting red tape, easing administrative burdens for farmers and national administrations, and, in some cases, saving farmers across all Member States up to €215 million annually. In some cases, farmers shall even see around a 20% reduction in the time spent on CAP related administration, freeing up more time for farming rather than paperwork. Further simplification is still on its way, as the Commission now turns its focus to the organic sector, reviewing existing rules and making legislative adjustments as promised.
What do these adopted changes involve?
- In light of ongoing push by the Commission to further reduce control burden by favouring monitoring approach by using digital technologies changes to the secondary legislation are being made. For the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) used to administer area- and animal-based CAP payments, the annual quality assessment of its digital elements, Geospatial Aid Application (GSA) and Area Monitoring System (AMS) have been further simplified to reduce workload for Member States and reduce field visits for farmers. Accordingly, the AMS and GSA quality assessment, from 2026, will cover only eligibility conditions that can actually be monitored remotely using mainly Copernicus satellite data. In addition, Member States can now bundle corrective action on LPIS, GSA and AMS. This not only simplifies EU-level rules but also greatly reduces the need for physical farm visits.
- Farmers will no longer be required to record their use of plant protection products in the geospatial application (GSA) system. This change avoids duplicate reporting while maintaining the original policy objectives. This simplification is expected to reduce the burden for farmers regarding the time spent performing this task and allows more time to be spent on farm management. However, it should be remembered that the general requirement of record-keeping of plant protection products is necessary as laid down in the Regulation concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market.
- The rules on how Member States scrutinise certain CAP-related transactions have been simplified, while placing greater importance on a comprehensive risk analysis covering all measures in the selection of undertakings for scrutiny, the new approach provides Member States with greater flexibility to simplify processes and reduce the administrative burden.
- Several changes reduce complexity for producer organisations, especially those operating across borders:
- Approval of transnational producer organisations will now happen in the country where they are based, avoiding duplicate procedures
- Fewer rigid rules on market withdrawals (for example in the fruit and vegetable sector)
- Simpler marketing standards for withdrawn products
- Easier rules for hemp cultivation, including fewer checks and more flexibility for new varieties.
- Further flexibility has been provided to Member States in making amendments to their CAP strategic plans. This will allow Member States to better respond to the arising needs of the agricultural sector.
- In line with the Commission’s pledge to reduce reporting requirements, the annual performance report has also been simplified and will focus only on need-to-know data reducing duplicity in reporting.
Overall, these changes will have a tangible impact for both farmers and national administrations. They will lead to fewer, more targeted and efficient controls and on-farm inspections, reducing disruption and administrative burden for farmers. National administrations will also benefit from greater flexibility and lower costs, including by avoiding the need for sometimes expensive new IT systems.
Background
On 14 May 2025, the Commission proposed a comprehensive simplification package of the basic legislation underpinning the current CAP (2023-2027), that is the CAP Strategic Plan and the Horizontal Regulations. This package delivered in the following areas: (i) on-farm simplification and streamlining of requirements to better adjust to different situations and to various farming practices; (ii) streamlining support for smaller and medium-sized farms; (iii) providing measures that can help boost competitiveness; and (iv) increasing Member States’ flexibility in managing CAP strategic plans (CAP Plans). With modifications, the proposal was adopted by the co-legislators and then published on 31 December 2025.