05 April 2007

FUW MANIFESTO DEMANDS BURDEN OF REGULATION REVIEW

THE Farmers’ Union of Wales calls for an urgent review of the burden of regulations on farming in its Assembly election manifesto which outlines the key issues in the fight to safeguard the future and sustainability of agriculture and rural Wales.

"We are well aware that the vast majority of bureaucracy originates from the EC but what makes this red tape many times worse is that the UK has a nasty habit of gold plating it," said FUW President Gareth Vaughan.

"We urge politicians in Cardiff to allow us to compete on a level playing field with farmers across Europe by rationalising on-farm inspection and record-keeping.

"This would allow farmers to concentrate on what they do best - farming and not sitting at a desk." The FUW also calls for existing and new regulations to be subject to greater scrutiny and that devolved legislation is only introduced if it meets the five principles of better regulation, namely that it is proportionate, accountable, consistent, transparent, and targeted. Another key issue in the all-inclusive manifesto is the appeals procedure of the Single Payment Scheme.

Mr Vaughan expressed his concern about the number of farmers being penalised for small, genuine, administrative errors. "I feel strongly that the penalties applied are often unnecessary and disproportionate to the errors made.

There needs to be a clear divide between the penalties applied to farmers that submit forms with unintentional and genuine mistakes from individuals that set out to deliberately defraud the system.

"The powers that be need to take stock and evaluate the success of the current appeals procedure and whether the procedure is actually serving its purpose."

NOTE TO EDITORS: This year for the first time the manifesto is included as a bilingual eight-page supplement in the April edition of ‘Y Tir/Welsh Farmer’.

To receive a copy of the supplement please contact the press office on 01970 820820. A copy of the manifesto is attached in Welsh and English

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