Control of European Community Agricultural Expenditure, Regulation 4045/89 Available to Purchase

EC Common Agricultural Policy expenditure is substantial, about £22 billion a year. Its objective is to support the market and to “guarantee” EC producers, processors, importers and exporters a reasonable return. The individual market support arrangements are defined by many hundreds of EC Council and Commission regulations which either specify or imply the need for control measures such as guarantees, indemnities, product descriptions, processes: technical, legal and administrative, and the checking of them. Checking in this specific but fragmented way has to be reinforced by control at an “aggregate” level, which is achieved by the examination of a claimant's transactions in the context of its suppliers, markets, associated companies and key third parties. Provision for this to be done is given by EC Council Regulation 4045/89, but argues that the Regulation itself militates against effective control at this “aggregate” level on at least three counts.