1.Article 81(1) of the Treaty shall not apply to the agreements and concerted practices of recognised interbranch organisations in the tobacco sector, intended to implement the aims referred to in Article 123(c) of this Regulation provided that:
(a)the agreements and concerted practices have been notified to the Commission;
(b)the Commission, acting within three months of receipt of all the details required, has not found that those agreements or concerted practices are incompatible with Community competition rules.
The agreements and concerted practices may not be implemented during that three-month period.
2.Agreements and concerted practices shall be declared contrary to Community competition rules in the following cases where:
(a)they may lead to the partitioning of markets in any form within the Community;
(b)they may affect the sound operation of the market organisation;
(c)they may create distortions of competition which are not essential to achieving the objectives of the common agricultural policy pursued by the interbranch organisation measure;
(d)they entail the fixing of prices or quotas, without prejudice to measures taken by interbranch organisations in the application of specific provisions of Community rules;
(e)they may create discrimination or eliminate competition in respect of a substantial proportion of the products in question.
3.If, following expiry of the three-month period referred to in point (b) of paragraph 1, the Commission finds that the conditions for applying this Chapter have not been met, it shall without the assistance of the Committee referred to in Article 195(1), take a decision declaring that Article 81(1) of the Treaty applies to the agreement or concerted practice in question.
That decision shall not apply earlier than the date of notification to the interbranch organisation concerned, unless that interbranch organisation has given incorrect information or misused the exemption provided for in paragraph 1.