Conditionality under CAP is compulsory. It covers nine GAEC standards including GAEC 2 (Protection of Peatland and Wetlands) as well as eleven Statutory Management requirements (SMRs). and is a minimum requirement for receiving any area-based payments from the Common Agricultural Policy.
Conditionality ensures a certain minimum public/environmental good is achieved through CAP payments. The principle of Conditionality is long established under the CAP.
The EU rules governing the CAP Strategic Plan for the period 2023-2027 require each Member State including Ireland to establish minimum or so-called baseline requirements/standards under each GAEC. These standards (other than GAEC 2 and CAEC 7) are in force since 1 January 2023. Ireland used a provision in the regulation to defer the implementation for GAEC 2 until 2024, so as to facilitate the completion of the mapping aspect of these soils. The actual requirements to be implemented are yet to be decided and a stakeholder consultation process is currently underway to assist this process. The GAEC 2 standard will subsequently be introduced to the CAP Strategic Plan by way of an amendment, which will be subject to the approval by the European Commission.
It is anticipated that the finalised requirements will endeavour to take into account the need to facilitate “normal agriculture practice” as far as practicable. Noting in particular, that under the EU rules (Regulation 2115/2021) Ireland is obliged to ensure that on the land concerned, an agricultural activity suitable for qualifying the land as agricultural area may be maintained. Thus, while the requirements have yet to be agreed, it is anticipated that they will facilitate the continuation of agricultural activities whilst setting out some basic minimum best practices intended to protect these carbon rich areas, which is the key objective of this standard.
