he European Court of Auditors has urged the European Commission to avoid “unnecessarily complicated” rules for mapping EU farm fields eligible for direct payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and to “simplify the system” wherever possible.

The Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) is a key control mechanism of the CAP, which is used for registration of agricultural reference parcels. LPIS allows the Commission to identify land eligible for annual subsidies to farmers and avoid error payments.