1.8.2008   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 205/3

(1)

Council Regulation (EC) No 1952/2005 of 23 November 2005 concerning the common organisation of the market in hops (2) is to be repealed from 1 July 2008 under Article 201(1)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 (Single CMO Regulation).

(2)

Certain provisions relating to the producer groups laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1952/2005 have not been incorporated in the Single CMO Regulation. In order to enable the hops sector to continue to function properly, it is necessary to lay down those provisions in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1299/2007 of 6 November 2007 on the recognition of producer groups for hops (3).

(3)

The Single CMO Regulation has laid down in Article 122 the general conditions for the recognition of producer organisations by the Member States. Those conditions should be specified for the hops sector. For sake of consistency, the term ‘producer groups’ should continue to be used in that sector.

(4)

To avoid any discrimination between producers and to ensure the unity and effectiveness of any action undertaken, conditions should be laid down, for the whole of the Community, with which producer groups must comply in order to be recognised by the Member States. To achieve an effective centralisation of supply, it is necessary in particular that the groups should be of an economically viable size and that the entire output of producers should be marketed either directly by the group or by the producers, according to common rules.

(5)

Regulation (EC) No 1299/2007 should be amended accordingly.

(6)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets,

1.

Article 1 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 1

1.   The authority competent to recognise producer organisations as provided for in Article 122 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 (4), hereinafter referred to as “producer groups”, shall be the Member State within whose territory the producer group has its registered office.

2.   Member States shall recognise producer groups which request recognition and fulfil the following general conditions:

The first marketing stage means the sale of hops by the producer himself or, in the case of a producer group, the sale of hops by its members to the wholesale trade or to the user industries.

3.   The obligation provided for in paragraph 2(c) shall not apply to products covered by sales contracts concluded by producers before they joined the producer group, provided that the latter was informed of and approved such contracts.

4.   By way of derogation from paragraph 2(c)(ii), where the producer group so authorises and under the conditions it lays down, members of a producer group may:

5.   The common rules referred to in paragraph 2, points (b) and (c)(i) shall be laid down in writing. These rules shall comprise at least:

2.

In Article 2, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

‘2.   In accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 195(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, a Member State may be authorised, on request, to recognise a group whose registered areas comprise less than 60 hectares, if the areas are situated in a recognised production region covering less than 100 hectares.’