Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/177 of 21 January 2026 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 of the European Parliament and of the Council with additional requirements for certain types of intervention specified by Member States in their CAP Strategic Plans for the period 2023 to 2027 under that Regulation as well as rules on the ratio for the good agricultural and environmental conditions (GAEC) standard 1

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 2 December 2021 establishing rules on support for strategic plans to be drawn up by Member States under the common agricultural policy (CAP Strategic Plans) and financed by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and repealing Regulations (EU) No 1305/2013 and (EU) No 1307/2013 (1), and in particular Article 4(8), Article 13(3) and Article 45, points (a), (c) and (d), thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 (2) lays down rules making the granting of payments conditional upon the use of certified seeds of certain hemp varieties, as well as the verification of their tetrahydrocannabinol content. Experience has shown that control procedures can be simplified without compromising the reliability of the results. Therefore, Articles 2 and 3 and Annex I to that Delegated Regulation should be modified to give Member States more flexibility in terms of deadlines for verifying compliance with hemp-related legal requirements and to allow the control rates to be decreased for the purpose of reducing administrative costs. In addition, the requirements for records to be kept by the competent authorities of the Member States related to findings on the Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content should be clarified.

(2) Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 also provides for additional requirements for the design of types of interventions in certain agriculture sectors as referred to in Chapter III of Title III of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115. However, it has been found that some of those requirements could be simplified in order to strike a better balance between the need to regulate and harmonise the design of those types of interventions and the smooth implementation of the CAP Strategic Plans.

(3) Article 50(7), point (d), of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 limits the expenditure for interventions under the type of interventions ‘market withdrawals for free distribution or other destinations’, ‘green harvesting’ and ‘non-harvesting’ to one third of the total expenditure of each operational programme. In the context of market withdrawals, this limit aims at avoiding that producer organisations deliberately decide not to place on the market particular quantities of products during certain periods with a view to creating an alternative market outlet. In order to clarify how the limit should be calculated, Article 22 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 should be amended.

(4) Articles 25 to 29 and 33 and Annexes V and VII to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 contain specific rules applicable to the fruit and vegetables sector, to the olive oil and table olive sector, and to the other sectors referred to in Article 42, point (f), of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, relating to market withdrawal for free distribution or other destinations. Those rules concern in particular the types of expenditure, transport costs, conditioning requirements, support for market withdrawals, destinations for withdrawn products, conditions for the recipients of withdrawn products and marketing standards of withdrawn products. Some of these conditions, such as the conditioning costs for market withdrawals in the fruit and vegetables sector, are outdated and do not account for the extraordinary high inflation surges that have affected all Member States in recent years. Therefore, and in order to alleviate the administrative burden for Member States, beneficiaries and recipients of withdrawn products, Articles 27, 28 and 33 and Annex VII to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 should be deleted, whereas Articles 25, 26 and 29 of that Delegated Regulation should be substantially simplified. The Title of Annex V to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 should be also modified to reflect the amendment to Article 26 thereof.

(5) Article 32a of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 provides for rules applicable to types of interventions implemented by transnational producer organisations and transnational associations of producer organisations. However, that Article does not specify the Member State responsible for the approval of the operational programmes implemented by such organisations. Article 14(3), point (b), and Article 21(3), point (b), of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891 (3), respectively, provide that, for transnational producer organisations and transnational associations of producer organisations in the fruit and vegetables sector, the Member State in which the head office of the organisation is located is to be responsible for the approval of the respective operational programme. However, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2184 (4) deletes Article 14(3), point (b), and Article 21(3), point (b), of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891. In order to avoid a legal gap after the deletion of the rules applicable to transnational producer organisations and associations of producer organisation in the fruit and vegetable sector and to provide legal certainty for such organisations implementing operational programmes in other sectors, Article 32a of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 should be amended to provide for rules identical to those previously laid down in Article 14(3), point (b), and Article 21(3), point (b), of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891.

(6) Regulation (EU) 2025/2649 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) has amended Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 by replacing the limit of 5 % of the maximum decrease of the permanent grassland ratio compared to the reference year 2018 by a limit of 10 % and by excluding from the application of the conditionality system small farmers receiving payments under Article 28 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115. Article 48 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 should therefore be amended to reflect those amendments.

(7) Article 4(3), point (c), of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 lays down the definition of ‘permanent grassland’. Regulation (EU) 2025/2649 has amended that definition as regards the number of years following which land that is used to grow grasses or other herbaceous forage becomes permanent grassland for the purposes of that Regulation. Article 48(5) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 lays down rules concerning areas reconverted to permanent grassland and areas newly established as permanent grassland and refers to the definition of ‘permanent grassland’. It should therefore be amended to reflect the definition of permanent grassland as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/2649.

(8) Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(9) In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the envisaged interventions and allow for appropriate planning by farmers and consideration by competent authorities, this Regulation should enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

(10) The amendments provided for in Article 1(3) to (8), (10), (13) and (14) of this Regulation should apply to operational programmes approved by Member States, which are implemented on the basis of calendar years, running from 1 January to 31 December. To ensure effective and consistent implementation of the operational programmes, including a timely approval of the necessary amendments of those operational programmes, those amendments to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 should apply as from 1 January 2027.

(11) To avoid a legal gap concerning the rules applicable to the approval of operational programmes implemented by transnational producer organisations and transnational association of producer organisations, the amendment to Article 32a of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 should apply as from the date of application of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2184,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Amendments to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 is amended as follows:

(2) in Article 3, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following: ‘2.   The competent authority of the Member State shall keep the records related to findings on the THC content. Such records shall comprise, for each variety, at least the results in terms of THC content from each sample expressed in percentage to two decimal places, the procedure used, the number of tests carried out, the percentage of area verified in respect of the area declared, an indication of the point at which the sample was taken and measures taken at national level.’

(3) in Article 22, the following paragraph is added: ‘6.   By way of derogation from paragraph 5, the limit of one third of the total expenditure for interventions as referred to in Article 50(7), point (d), of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, shall be calculated taking into account the total expenditure in the given calendar year of implementation of the operational programme concerned.’

(4) Article 25 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 25 Transport costs of products withdrawn from the market for free distribution or other destinations and conditioning requirement for free distribution

(5) in Title III, Chapter II, the title of Section 2 is replaced by the following: ‘ Specific rules applicable to market withdrawals for free distribution or other destinations ’;

(7) Articles 27 and 28 are deleted;

(8) Article 29 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 29 Marketing standards of withdrawn products

(9) in Article 32a, the following subparagraph is added: ‘The Member State in which the head office of the transnational producer organisation or the transnational association of producer organisations is located shall be responsible for the approval of the operational programmes implemented by the transnational producer organisation or the transnational association of producer organisations.’;

(10) Article 33 is deleted;

(12) in Annex I, points 1.1 and 1.2 are replaced by the following: ‘1.1.   Procedure A Procedure A shall be used for checks on the production of hemp. In accordance with Article 60 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, the Member State shall determine the minimum percentage of the on-the-spot checks, which shall cover at least 15 % of the areas declared for the production of hemp in accordance with Article 8 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1173. 1.2.   Procedure B Procedure B shall be used where a Member State introduces a system of prior approval for the cultivation of hemp. In accordance with Article 60 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, the Member State shall determine the minimum percentage of the on-the-spot checks, which shall cover at least 10 % of the areas declared for the production of hemp in accordance with Article 8 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1173.’;

(13) the title of Annex V is replaced by the following: ‘ Maximum amounts of support for market withdrawals referred to in Article 26(1) ’;

(14) Annex VII is deleted.

Article 2

Entry into force and application

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 1 , points (3) to (8), (10), (13) and (14), shall apply as from 1 January 2027.

Article 1 , point (9), shall apply as from 24 December 2025.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 21 January 2026.

For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L 435, 6.12.2021, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/2115/oj.

(2) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 of 7 December 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 of the European Parliament and of the Council with additional requirements for certain types of intervention specified by Member States in their CAP Strategic Plans for the period 2023 to 2027 under that Regulation as well as rules on the ratio for the good agricultural and environmental condition (GAEC) standard 1 (OJ L 20, 31.1.2022, p. 52, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2022/126/oj).

(3) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891 of 13 March 2017 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the fruit and vegetables and processed fruit and vegetables sectors and supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to penalties to be applied in those sectors and amending Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011 (OJ L 138, 25.5.2017, p. 4, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2017/891/oj).

(4) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2184 of 10 September 2025 amending Delegated Regulations (EU) 2016/232 and (EU) 2017/891 as regards certain rules on producer organisations, notification obligations of producer prices and implementation of certain import mechanisms in the fruit and vegetables sector (OJ L, 2025/2184, 4.12.2025, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2025/2184/oj).

(5) Regulation (EU) 2025/2649 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2025 amending Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 as regards the conditionality system, types of intervention in the form of direct payment, types of intervention in certain sectors and rural development and annual performance reports and Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 as regards suspensions of payments, annual performance clearance and controls and penalties (OJ L, 2025/2649, 31.12.2025, ELI http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2025/2649/oj).