Council Regulation (EC) No 104/2000 (repealed)Show full title

Article 5 U.K.

1. For the purposes of this Regulation, ‘producer organisation’ means any legal entity:

(a) set up on the own initiative of a group of producers of one or more of the products referred to in Article 1(a), (b) and (c) in so far, in the case of frozen, treated or processed products, as the operations in question have been carried out on board fishing vessels;

(b) established for the purpose, in particular, of ensuring that fishing is carried out along rational lines and that conditions for the sale of their members' products are improved, by taking such measures as will:

1.

encourage the planning of production and its adjustment to demand, in terms of both quantity, in particular by implementing catch plans;

2.

promote the concentration of supply;

3.

stabilise prices;

4.

encourage fishing methods which support sustainable fishing;

(c) the rules of association of which require its producer members, in particular:

1.

to apply to fishing, production and marketing the rules adopted by it;

2.

where the Member State concerned has decided that some or all of its catch quota or quotas and/or application of fishing effort measures are to be managed by producer organisations, to apply the measures adopted by the organisation to that end;

3.

to ensure that any one vessel belongs to only one producer organisation for any given product or group of products;

4.

to dispose of their total output of the products in respect of which they are members through the producer organisation; the organisation may, however, decide that this requirement can be waived if products are disposed of in accordance with common rules it has established in advance;

5.

to provide the information requested by the producer organisation to determine the measures referred to in paragraph 1(b) or fulfil statutory obligations, or for statistical purposes;

6.

to pay the financial contributions provided for in the rules of association for the establishment and replenishment of the intervention fund under Article 17(3);

7.

to remain members of the organisation for at least three years after its recognition and notify the organisation at least one year in advance if they wish to leave;

(d) the rules of association of which provide for:

1.

procedures for determining, adopting and amending the rules referred to in point (c)(1);

2.

the exclusion of all forms of discrimination among members, particularly on grounds of nationality or place of establishment;

3.

the levying on members of the financial contributions needed to finance the producer organisation;

4.

rules enabling the producer members to scrutinise their organisation and its decisions democratically;

5.

penalties for infringement of obligations under the rules of association, particularly non-payment of financial contributions, and of the rules laid down by the producer organisation;

6.

rules on the admission of new members;

7.

the accounting and budgetary rules necessary for the operation of the organisation, including the keeping of separate accounts for the activities for which recognition is granted;

(e) which has been recognised by the Member State concerned under paragraph 2.

2. Member States shall recognise as producer organisations for the purposes of this Regulation all producer groups which have their official headquarters in their territory, are sufficiently active economically in their territory, and which apply for such recognition, on condition that:

(a) they meet the requirements laid down in paragraph 1 and provide the relevant evidence, including proof that they have a minimum number of producer members or cover a minimum volume of marketable production;

(b) there is sufficient evidence that they can carry out their activities properly, both over time and in terms of effectiveness;

(c) they have the necessary legal status under national legislation.

3. Producer organisations may not hold a dominant position on a given market unless necessary in pursuance of the goals of Article 33 of the Treaty.

4. Detailed rules for the application of this Article shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 38(2).