The European Network for Rural Development (ENRD) recently published a FAQ on the compensatory allowance for areas facing natural constraints.
Compensatory allowance for areas facing natural constraints (ANC) is a payment scheme of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which aims to prevent land abandonment. The compensatory allowance for permanent natural handicaps applies to areas with natural constraints, such as mountain areas, as well as other specific constraints.
Since the 2013 reform of the CAP, the European Commission has asked for the delimitation of areas facing natural or other specific constraints to be reviewed (mountain areas are not concerned) by Member States using a new approach with more transparent and coherent indicators, such as 8 biophysical criteria. The implementation of this reform is still ongoing and Member States should send in their new ANC delimitation to the EC before 2018. A workshop was organised by Copa-Cogeca in Brussels on the 18 November 2016 to assess the current situation and you can read Euromontana’s article about it here (only for members).
The ENRD’s FAQ addresses questions that have been raised concerning the designation of ANCs in the funding period 2014-2020. The first part deals with general questions, followed by topical sub-sections on the process of establishing ANCs delimitations, biophysical criteria, fine-tuning, mountain areas, areas with specific constraints, and payment schemes.
You can find the FAQ here.
Published 11/07/2017
11 July 2017
