Remote-sensing control of arable and forage land area-based subsidies
The Member States of the European Union have published a joint call for tenders for external contractors to verify, by remote sensing, the area aid applications submitted each year by farmers. Depending on the Member State, satellite images and/or aerial photographs will be used. Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom have chosen this option for at least part of their controls. Belgium, Denmark, Italy and Spain also use remote sensing, but in multi-annual programmes which go beyond the invitation to tender. Austria and Luxembourg are not participating in the remote-sensing controls. The selected contractor will receive a sample of dossiers to control, each listing all parcels cultivated. The contractor must compare these applications with the images or aerial photographs and deliver the results per dossier to the competent authority in the Member State, accompanied where necessary by all documentation, especially cartographic, to permit the parcels to be located and verified on site The satellite images will be acquired by the Commission and delivered to the contractors. On-the-spot checks, which involve contact with farmers, remain the responsibility of the administration in charge of the controls. The common technical specifications of the call for tenders, as well as the national adaptations must be requested from the national administrations as follows: Finland: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Department of Agriculture Unit for support policy P.O. Box 30 FIN-00023 Helsinki Fax +358-9-1604289 France Office National Interprofessionel des Céréales 21 avenue Bosquet F-Paris Fax +33-1-44-182080 Germany: Bundesministerium für Ernährung Landwirtschaft und Forsten Referat 116 Postfach 140270 D-53107 Bonn Fax +49-228-5293436 Greece: Ministère de l'agriculture service topographique Liosion 93 EL-Athina Fax +30-1-881-3510 Ireland: Department of Agriculture, food and rural development Area aid unit Hume House Ballsbridge Dublin 4 Fax +353-1-6072514 Netherlands: Laser Bezuidenhoutseweg 73 Postbus 20401 NL-2500 EK Den Haag Fax +31-70-378-6139 Portugal Instituto Nacionale de Intervenção e Garantia Agricola (INGA) rua Fernando Curado Ribeiro no 4G 1 Ander PT-1600 Lisboa Fax +351-21-7518607 Sweden: Jordbruksverket Vallgatan 8 Jönköping Fax +46-36-190546 United Kingdom Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food CAP Schemes Management Division Room51610 Whitehall Place London SW1A 2HH Fax +44-20-72708976 The common technical specifications will only be available from approximately 24 November 2000 (in English). Requests before this date will not receive a reply. Alternatively, the document may be downloaded from a JRC Internet site at: URL: http://mars.aris.sai.jrc.it/control(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)