In the general context of agricultural policy reform, this study suggests ways to reduce PRTCs and explores the role of policy-related transaction costs (PRTCs) in defining the most efficient option for achieving policy objectives. Although PRTCs have largely been neglected in agricultural policy design and analysis for a long time, they are attracting increasing interest with the development of more targeted policies. PRTCs are defined as all costs arising from interactions between and within government agencies, private organisations and programme participants at all stages of policy implementation, starting with the initial gathering of information and the policy design, the selection of eligible farmers, the distribution of transfers, the monitoring and control stages, and ending with the final evaluation of the policy outcomes relative to objectives. For budgetary payments, implementation costs are sometimes strictly defined as the costs of delivering payments and monitoring farmers’ eligibility and compliance. There are questions as to which costs can be considered as PRTCs. Technical assistance, for example, is sometimes excluded from PRTCs and considered as an outcome.