Annex B

The EU approach to cross-compliance includes partial or full loss of payments if the farmer fails to comply with mandatory standards stemming from existing legislation and the maintenance of good agricultural and environmental conditions. Cross-compliance creates a link between several separate policies, amongst them income support and selected statutory standards or requirements. These relate to environment, animal and plant health, public health and animal welfare and identification and registration of animals and are enshrined in existing laws. By introducing reduction of payments due to non-compliance the effectiveness of enforcement of existing environmental laws could be expected to increase.

Guidelines for Cost-effective Agri-environmental Policy Measures

Annex B

Cross-compliance in the European Union