The European Parliament adopted by 568 votes to 18, with 21 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1217/2009 as regards conversion of the Farm Accountancy Data Network into a Farm Sustainability Data Network.
The European Parliament's position, adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure, should amend the proposal as follows:
Creation of a farm sustainability data network
To meet the needs of the common agricultural policy (CAP), including the evaluation of its impact on the agricultural sector, a farm sustainability data network (FSDN) is set up for the collection and analysis of farm-level sustainability data covering the economic, environmental and social dimensions. FSDN data may be used to contribute to the assessment of additional aspects related to the sustainability of Union agriculture and to address challenges faced by Union agriculture.
FSDN data should cover the topics set out in Annex -I to the Regulation. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts to modify those topics or to add new ones.
Data for compiling farm returns and data linkages
Farm returns should be compiled by means of surveys for which Member States may use, where relevant, data from the data sources and other relevant data sources, as well as data compilation methods or innovative approaches for data sharing and compiling.
The liaison agencies should have the right to access and use, free of charge, the following data sources:
- the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) established by Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 of the European Parliament and of the Council;
- the system for the identification and registration of terrestrial animals established by Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council;
- the vineyard register implemented in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council;
- the organic farming registers set up pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council;
- Member States’ data for performing the monitoring and evaluation of CAP Strategic Plans;
- where relevant, farm-level records collected for the establishment by Member States of action programmes pursuant to Article 5 of Council Directive 91/676/EEC.
In addition to the data contained in the farm return for returning holdings, Member States should provide the means for the Commission to enhance the capacity to analyse sustainability matters by complementing farm return data with content from data for performing the monitoring and evaluation of CAP Strategic Plans or Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) established by Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
Participation in the FSDN
The FSDN should rely on voluntary participation. Nevertheless, given that some Member States face problems with holdings’ participation in the FSDN, it should be possible for Member States to adopt national rules to address that issue without imposing penalties on the farmers. Member States should encourage farmers to participate in the FSDN by using incentives that they should set out in a specific plan.
Liaison Agency
Each Member State should appoint a liaison agency whose tasks should be to:
- offer to any returning holding the possibility to obtain its results, either from the liaison agency or from an organisation it appoints, as soon as possible but in any event no later than four months after the Commission confirms that the farm return is duly completed; where possible, those results shall include benchmarking information, comparing those results with regional, national, Union or sectoral averages;
- set out a plan to incentivise farmers´ participation in the FSDN and submit it to the Commission together with the plan for the selection of returning holdings;
- make available, either by itself or by an organisation it appoints, the obtained results in the form of aggregated and anonymised data such as at regional, national, Union or sectoral level.
Data protection
The farm returns and either the links or the data referred to in Regulation should be submitted to the Commission by the liaison agency by means of a computerised data system established by the Commission. The data should be submitted electronically on the basis of forms made available to the liaison agency through that system.
In order to increase the level of acceptance of farmers to participate in the data gathering and to protect individual data from unauthorised or unsuitable use, it is necessary to clarify that individual data should only be used for analytical purposes linked to the CAP objectives and the sustainability of Union agriculture and, where Member States so decide, for statistical purposes. Any other use of the individual data by the Member States or by the Commission, in particular for controls in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 or for taxation purposes, should be prohibited.
Where FSDN data and data from other datasets are shared by the Commission or liaison agencies, it is of the utmost importance to ensure data protection and to give assurance to farmers, both natural and legal persons, that their individual data and all other individual details obtained pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1217/2009 as amended by this Regulation will be anonymised to avoid their identification. Therefore, the amended text specifies that FSDN data and data from other datasets may be made public provided that they are both aggregated and anonymised.