Validation and certification of the area measurments systems in the light of the common agricultural policy

Since the beginning of 2008, Members States are obliged by Article 30(1) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 796/2004 to provide proof of quality of the tools/methods used in the annual control process of the area based subsidies. Using reliable equipment giving reproducible results within defined statistically predictable limits is of benefit for all the stakeholders: farmers, national administration and the European Commission. In order to evaluate reliability and precision of GNSS receivers in area measurements, tests should be made under different conditions, using the same settings and the method of measurements as used in the control process. In order to guaranty a standardised approach in these tests, measurement validation scheme, based on the ISO 5725 norm, has been designed. Member States can assure the quality of the area measurements required by the Regulation by using one of the two ways: validation tests or by buying certified instruments. The principles of the validation and certification processes of the area measurements systems in the light of the Common Agricultural Policy are presented in this paper.

SIMA Aleksandra;  KAY Simon; 

2010-01-14

Publications Office of the European Commission

JRC52972

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC52972,