PART IIINTERNAL MARKET

TITLE IIRULES CONCERNING MARKETING AND PRODUCTION

CHAPTER IIProducer organisations, interbranch organisations, operator organisations

F1Section IIa Rules concerning producer organisations and interbranch organisations in the milk and milk products sector

F1Article 126cContractual negotiations in the milk and milk products sector

1.

A producer organisation in the milk and milk products sector which is recognised under Article 122 may negotiate on behalf of its farmer members, in respect of part or all of their joint production, contracts for the delivery of raw milk by a farmer to a processor of raw milk, or to a collector within the meaning of the second subparagraph of Article 185f(1).

2.

The negotiations by the producer organisation may take place:

(a)

whether or not there is a transfer of ownership of the raw milk by the farmers to the producer organisation;

(b)

whether or not the price negotiated is the same as regards the joint production of some or all of the farmer members;

(c)

provided that, for a particular producer organisation:

  1. (i)

    the volume of raw milk covered by such negotiations does not exceed 3,5 % of total Union production; and

  2. (ii)

    the volume of raw milk covered by such negotiations which is produced in any particular Member State does not exceed 33 % of the total national production of that Member State; and

  3. (iii)

    the volume of raw milk covered by such negotiations which is delivered in any particular Member State does not exceed 33 % of the total national production of that Member State;

(d)

provided that the farmers concerned are not members of any other producer organisation which also negotiates such contracts on their behalf; however, Member States may derogate from this condition in duly justified cases where farmers hold two distinct production units located in different geographic areas;

(e)

provided that the raw milk is not covered by an obligation to deliver arising from the farmer’s membership of a cooperative in accordance with the conditions set out in the cooperative’s statutes or the rules and decisions provided for in or derived from these statutes; and

(f)

provided that the producer organisation notifies the competent authorities of the Member State or Member States in which it operates of the volume of raw milk covered by such negotiations.

3.

Notwithstanding the conditions set out in points (ii) and (iii) of point (c) of paragraph 2, a producer organisation may negotiate pursuant to paragraph 1, provided that, with regard to that producer organisation, the volume of raw milk covered by the negotiations which is produced in or delivered in a Member State having a total annual raw milk production of less than 500 000 tonnes does not exceed 45 % of the total national production of that Member State.

4.

For the purposes of this Article, references to producer organisations shall also include associations of such producer organisations.

5.

For the purposes of applying point (c) of paragraph 2 and paragraph 3, the Commission shall publish, by such means as it considers appropriate, the amounts of raw milk production in the Union and the Member States using the most up-to-date information available.

6.

By way of derogation from point (c) of paragraph 2 and paragraph 3, even where the thresholds set out therein are not exceeded, the competition authority referred to in the second subparagraph of this paragraph may decide in an individual case that a particular negotiation by the producer organisation should either be reopened or should not take place at all if it considers that this is necessary in order to prevent competition being excluded or in order to avoid seriously damaging SME processors of raw milk in its territory.

For negotiations covering more than one Member State, the decision referred to in the first subparagraph shall be taken by the Commission without applying the procedure referred to in Article 195(2) or Article 196b(2). In other cases, that decision shall be taken by the national competition authority of the Member State to which the negotiations relate.

The decisions referred to in this paragraph shall not apply earlier than the date of their notification to the undertakings concerned.

7.

For the purposes of this Article:

(a)

a ‘national competition authority’ means the authority referred to in Article 5 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty 80 ;

(b)

an ‘SME’ means a micro-, small- or medium-sized enterprise within the meaning of Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises 81 .

8.

The Member States in which negotiations take place in accordance with this Article shall notify the Commission of the application of point (f) of paragraph 2 and paragraph 6.