Council Regulation (EC) No 104/2000 (repealed)Dangos y teitl llawn

Article 13 U.K.

1. Member States may recognise as interbranch organisations, within the meaning of this Regulation, all legal persons established on their territory which make an appropriate application and which are made up of representatives of activities linked to the production of and/or trade in and/or processing of the products referred to in Article 1, on condition that:

(a) they have been established at the initiative of all or some of the organisations or associations which constitute them;

(b) they represent a significant share of the production of and trade in and/or processing of fishery products and products processed from fishery products in the region or regions in question and, where more than one region is involved, they can demonstrate a minimum level of representativeness in each region for each of the branches that they cover;

(c) they are not themselves engaged in activities relating to the production, processing or marketing of fishery products or products processed from fishery products;

(d) they carry out two or more of the following measures in one or more regions of the Community, under conditions that are compatible with Community rules, particularly as regards competition, taking account of the interest of consumers, and provided they do not hinder the sound operation of the market organisation:

• (d) improving knowledge of and the transparency of production and the market,

• helping to coordinate better the way fishery products are placed on he market, in particular by means of research and market studies,

• study and develop techniques to optimise the operation of the market, including information and communication technology,

• drawing up standard contracts which are compatible with Community rules,

• providing the information and carrying out the research needed to channel production towards products more suited to market requirements and consumer tastes and expectations, in particular with regard to product quality and exploitation methods which contribute to the sustainability of resources,

• developing methods and instruments and organising training schemes to improve product quality,

• exploiting the potential of, and protecting, designations of origin, quality seals and geographical designations,

• laying down rules on the catching and marketing of fishery products which are stricter than Community or national rules,

• exploiting more fully the potential of fishery products,

• promoting fishery products.

2. Before granting recognition Member States shall notify the Commission of the interbranch organisations which have applied for recognition, providing all relevant information about their representativeness and their various activities, together with all other information needed for an assessment.

The Commission may object to recognition within a timelimit of two months after notification.

3. Member States shall:

(a) decide whether to grant recognition within three months of the submission of an application with all relevant supporting documents;

(b) carry out checks at regular intervals to ascertain that interbranch organisations comply with the terms and conditions for recognition;

(c) withdraw recognition if:

(i)

the terms and conditions for recognition laid down in this Regulation are no longer met;

(ii)

the interbranch organisation contravenes any of the prohibitions imposed in Article 14 or damages the sound operation of the market organisation, without prejudice to any other penalties otherwise incurred under national law;

(d) notify the Commission, within two months, of any decision to grant, refuse or withdraw recognition.

4. The Commission shall check that paragraph 1 and 3(b) are complied with by carrying out checks and may, as a result of those checks, request a Member State to withdraw recognition.

5. Recognition shall constitute an authorisation to carry out the measures listed in paragraph 1(d), consistent with the terms of this Regulation.

6. The Commission shall publish in the ‘C’ series of the Official Journal of the European Communities a list of the interbranch organisations recognised, indicating the economic area or area of their activities and the activities they carry out for the purposes of Article 15. Withdrawals of recognition shall also be made public.

7. Detailed rules for the application of this Article and, in particular, the terms and conditions on which and the frequency with which the Member States are to report to the Commission on the activities of interbranch organisations, shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 38(2).