OPEKEPE: Analytical guide with obligations of religiousness so that agricultural subsidies are not lost

Guide to the obligations of farmers in the context of the 2024 eligibility, in order to know what they should and should not do in order to receive the agricultural aid, deriving from the requirements issued by the Organization for Payments and Control of Community Aid Guidance and Guarantees (OPEKEPE).

Farmers owning holdings whose declared agricultural area does not exceed 10 hectares are exempt from the penalties of sectarianism. However, in the event that, after the inspection, it is found that non-compliance with the requirements of the healthiness has been sanctioned on the farmer, who is responsible for the agricultural holding in which they were found.

The amount of the penalties is determined by the degree of seriousness and repetition of the violation, while the violations are initially divided into violations by negligence and violations by intention.

The rules of sectarianism and their obligations arising from it

In particular, in the context of religiousness, specific obligations must be respectedand they concern the following specific areas:

a) climate and environment, including issues for mitigation and adaptation to climate change, for the protection and quality of water, soil, biodiversity and landscape,

b) public health and plant health, including matters of food safety and plant protection products,

c) animal welfare.

See in detail the guide here.

To whom

The eligibility requirements apply to beneficiaries who receive:

Direct reinforcements

a) Decoupled direct aid

• basic income support for sustainability,
• supplementary redistributive income support for sustainability,
• supplementary income support for young farmers,
• climate, environment and animal welfare programs,

or / and b) Linked direct aid

• linked income support,
• special reinforcement for cotton.

Annual aid under Rural Development Interventions

a) environmental, climate and other management commitments (Interventions P3 -70 of the CAP SS),

b) physical or other restrictions per area (Interventions P3 – 71 of the SS CAP),

c) disadvantages per region resulting from certain mandatory requirements (Interventions P3 – 72 of the SS CAP).

• Measures in favor of Local Agricultural Production in the Small Aegean Islands (MNA)

• Environmental, climate and other management commitments P.A.A. of 2014-2022 to beneficiaries with more than 10 hectares of agricultural holdings.

How will the OPEKEPE checks for religiousness

At the same time, instructions on how the checks will be carried out for suitability, in order to establish whether the farmers, who receive support under the SS KPA, have complied with the requirements are included in the OPEKEPE manual, which was posted in the transparency.

In particular, the purpose of the audit is to establish the compliance of producers, who receive support within the framework of the CAP, with the requirements of healthiness, for all the standards and requirements that are applicable to their holdings.

Farmers owning holdings whose declared agricultural area does not exceed 10 hectares are exempt from airworthiness checks. The exemption also includes holdings that have livestock.

See the manual in detail here.

The sample of on-site inspections of airworthiness is exported by OPEKEPE. The holdings of the producers included in the sample are checked in their entirety, with regard to the animals and the stable facilities (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses), as well as the auxiliary areas of the holding such as warehouses, milking facilities, feed production facilities and agricultural equipment, especially with regard to the application of plant protection substances.

On-site inspection of plant capital may be limited to a sample comprising at least 50% of each category of parcels included in the application of the inspected, depending on the requirements applicable to them.

In the event that a land parcel violation is found in any of the parcels in the sample, the on-site inspection is extended to at least 75% of the parcels in the category of parcels related to the violation found. Infringements related to livestock, stable facilities or kept records, do not entail an increase in the sample of parcels.