Meat farmers are considering filing a claim for compensation because they are temporarily included in the phosphate reduction scheme. That says Peter Goumans, lawyer at Hekkelman Advocaten NV
According to Goumans, beef farmers have experienced all sorts of limitations from the phosphate reduction scheme in recent months. Lawyer Goumans: 'Meat farmers have anticipated the scheme by selling livestock or postponing transactions. It now appears that this was not necessary.'
Basis for a claim
Whether non-milk-supplying companies can also qualify for a compensation claim depends on the content of the amendment to the law. The Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ) announced on Wednesday, April 12, that it would announce these changes before May 1, 2017. 'The question is whether the 2017 phosphate reduction scheme is invalid. If it turns out that the judge has declared the scheme invalid, there is sufficient ground to file a claim for damages.'
Suspended injunction proceedings
For that reason, Goumans is staying in summary proceedings. 'We will continue as long as the content of the amendment to the law is not known. Neither the state attorney nor the judge has asked us to withdraw the summary proceedings.' On 4 May, the court in The Hague will rule on the validity of the 2017 phosphate regulation.
Damage is limited
Incidentally, Goumans expects that the damage suffered by the majority of the beef cattle farmers will not be too bad, because the period in which they were covered by the scheme is relatively short. 'I know of a few cases where that is not the case. For example, a beef farmer who had just taken over the neighbor's business and was unable to use it due to the scheme.'
goumans
Goumans is one of the lawyers who, on behalf of beef farmers, filed a lawsuit against the State. The reason was that it was announced in February that the phosphate reduction scheme also applied to non-dairy farms. Halfway through this week, outgoing State Secretary Martijn van Dam announced an amendment to the law which shows that non-dairy farms are nevertheless excluded from the scheme.
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