1.Products withdrawn from the market under Article 23 (1) which remain unsold shall be disposed of as follows:
(a)all products:
(a)free distribution to charitable organizations and foundations, approved to that effect by the Member States, for use in their activities to assist persons whose right to public assistance is recognized in national law, in particular because they lack the necessary means of subsistence,
free distribution to penal institutions and to children's holiday camps as well as to hospitals and old people's homes designated by the Member States, which shall take all necessary steps to ensure that the quantities thus distributed are additional to the quantities normally bought in by such establishments,
free distribution outside the Community, through charitable organizations approved to that effect by the Member States, to the populations of third countries in need,
and, secondarily,
(a)use for non-food purposes,
use in animal feed, either fresh or after processing by the feedingstuffs industry;
(b)fruit: free distribution to school children, other than as part of the meals served in school canteens, and to pupils in schools which do not have canteens providing meals,
(c)apples, pears, peaches and nectarines: processing into alcohol of a strength of more than 80 % volume by direct distillation of the product,
(d)all products: disposal of certain classes of product to the processing industry on condition that there is no resulting distortion of competition for the industries concerned within the Community or for imported products. The implementation of this provision shall be decided in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 46.
2.In cases where none of the destinations referred to in paragraph 1 is possible, products withdrawn may be destined for composting or for biodegradation processes authorized by the Member State concerned.
3.The free distribution provided for in the first, second and third indents of point (a) of paragraph 1 and point (b) of paragraph 1 shall be organized by the producer organizations concerned, under the supervision of the Member States.
However, with regard to the free distribution of fruit to school children, the Commission may take the initiative of and responsibility for implementing local pilot projects within the framework of research and promotion measures.
4.Member States shall help to establish contacts between producer organizations and charitable organizations and other bodies which may be interested in using products withdrawn from the market within their territory, with a view to one of the forms of free distribution referred to in points (a) and (b) of paragraph 1.
5.The disposal of products to the feedingstuffs industry shall be carried out by the most appropriate procedure by an agency designated by the Member State concerned.
The distillation referred to in point (c) of paragraph 1 shall be carried out by distilleries either on their own account or on behalf of a body designated by the Member State concerned. In both cases this body shall carry out the operations in question using the most appropriate procedure.
[F16. The Community shall defray, on terms and conditions to be determined in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 46, transport, sorting and packaging costs in connection with free distribution as provided for in paragraph 1.]
7.Detailed rules for the application of this Article, and in particular those relating to free distribution and the disposal of products withdrawn, and those designed to avoid disruption of the alcohol market as a result of the distillation of products withdrawn, shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 46.