The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has issued compliance notices restricting 13 herds for serious livestock identification and registration (IDR) non-compliances to date in 2023.
As part of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), compliance with tagging and registration as a statutory minimum requirement (SMR) was removed.
Therefore, cross compliance or conditionality penalties can no longer be applied to a farmer’s direct payments for breaching these requirements.
Breaches
This change means that breaches in IDR rules are being managed in a new way by the department from 2023 onwards.
Where justified, a herd restriction notice is issued to an owner where serious IDR non-compliances are found.
Farmers who receive such notices are then required to take “necessary corrective action”, before the department lifts the restriction.
In the event that a farmer does not take corrective action, a fixed payment notice (FPN), applied at a flat rate of €250, will be issued.
Failure to pay this fine within 28 days may result in a court appearance and an increased risk of further inspection.
“This enforcement system is designed to deliver the highest level of compliance with traceability requirements and affords inspected herds every opportunity to comply with the rules on identification and registration before incurring a financial penalty,” a DAFM spokesperson said.
DAFM
This year’s farm inspections to ensure compliance with regulations commenced in the first week of April.
The department confirmed to Agriland that “13 compliance notices restricting herds have been issued to date in 2023”.
“Given the infancy of the system and the small numbers of notices involved at this stage, the department will not be providing a detailed breakdown of farmer action taken on foot of the notices issued.
“No fixed-penalty notices have been issued or prosecution initiated in relation to IDR non-compliances year to date,” the DAFM spokesperson said.