AUTHORS: Vicki Swales-Martin Farmer-Kathryn Arblaster-Justin Bartley

Under Regulation 1782/2003 Cross Compliance was introduced as a compulsory measure from the 1st of January 2005.

All farmers benefiting from direct payments under the first pillar of the CAP may be subject to a reduction or withdrawal of these payments in the case of non-compliance with certain standards in the areas of the environment, public, animal and plant health and animal welfare. Standards may be based on Statutory Management Requirements (SMRs) or on Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC).

The descriptive report of this evaluation provides the first comprehensive assessment of Member State approaches to cross compliance implementation in the EU 25.