REMOVING REDUNDANT REGULATION IN THE REFORM OF AGRICULTURAL POLICIES - THE CASE OF THE COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY OF THE EC

Sweeping reforms to agricultural policies in recent years seek to prov ide more targeted forms of support though often at the expense of incr eased administration and control. In this Viewpoint, it is argued that full benefits from the agricultural policy reforms have not been real ized as regulation made redundant by the reforms has not been cast asi de. Recent reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy of the EC illustr ate that not only are there significant gains in removing the redundan t regulation, but that its retention can lead to significant and unnec essary pressure on the newly reformed policies. Some reasons why this superfluous regulation has been overlooked or deliberately avoided in the process of policy reform are discussed.