Council Regulation (EC) No 104/2000 (repealed)Show full title

CHAPTER 1 U.K. CONDITIONS FOR, GRANT OF AND WITHDRAWAL OF RECOGNITION OF PRODUCER ORGANISATIONS

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).

Article 6 U.K.

1. 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 producer organisations comply with the terms and conditions for recognition; recognition of a producer organisation may be withdrawn if the conditions set out in Article 5 are no longer fulfilled or if recognition is based on wrong information; if the organisation obtains or benefits from recognition by fraudulent means, recognition shall immediately be withdrawn retroactively;

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

2. A Member State shall grant recognition to a producer organisation which has its official headquarters on its territory but some of whose members are nationals of one or more other Member States, provided the conditions laid down in Article 5 are complied with.

Member States whose nationals are members of a producer organisation established in the territory of another Member State shall set up, in collaboration with the latter, the administrative cooperation needed to carry out checks on the activities of the organisation concerned.

3. Member States may recognise a single producer organisation exclusively for a specific fishing area if it is found to be representative according to the criteria set under Article 7(1).

4. Member States may grant recognition to an association of producer organisations provided it complies with the conditions laid down in Article 5. However, Articles 9 and 10 shall not apply to such associations.

5. In order to ensure that Article 5 and paragraph (1)(b) of this Article are complied with, the Commission shall carry out checks and in the light of such checks may, where appropriate, request that Member States withdraw recognition.

6. At the beginning of each year the Commission shall publish in the ‘C’ series of the Official Journal of the European Communities a list of the producer organisations recognised during the previous year and those from which recognition has been withdrawn during the same period.

7. Detailed rules for the application of this Article, in particular the conditions for withdrawal of recognition, shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 38(2).