The European Commission adopted a proposal aimed to apply new rules with regard to the publication of information on the beneficiaries of European agricultural funds. The proposal takes into account the legal constraints inherent to the protection of personal data by setting certain limits. This proposal follows a Court of Justice of the European Union judgment which, on 9 November 2010, had partially invalidated the regulations on transparency in the agricultural sector.

A 2010 judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) invalidated part of Commission Regulation (EC) 259/2008, particularly as regards the publication of information on individual beneficiaries of the agricultural funds. Now, therefore, the European Commission presented the proposal designed to apply new rules with regard to the publication of information on the beneficiaries of European agricultural funds.

The new rules adopted by the Commission take the Court's objections into account and differ from those the Court had invalidated in that they are based on a detailed, revised justification, centred on the need for public control over the use of European agricultural funds, with the aim of protecting the Union’s financial interests; they require more detailed information to be supplied on the type of aid and the description of the measures for which the funds have been allocated; they include a de minimis threshold below which the name of the beneficiary shall not be published. Also, introducing a threshold in no way detracts from the completeness of the information provided.

The proposal takes into account, according to the Commission, the legal constraints inherent to the protection of personal data by setting certain limits upon the publication of individual names and by asking Member States to publish more detailed information, particularly on the type of aid and the description of the measures for which the funds have been allocated. An Eurobarometer survey dating from 2011 shows that 62% of citizens are in favour of publishing information on the beneficiaries of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments, while only 22% are against.