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1. Member States may, on request, recognise producer organisations, which:

(a) are constituted, and controlled in accordance with point (c) of Article 153(2), by producers in a specific sector listed in Article 1(2);

(b) are formed on the initiative of the producers and which carry out at least one of the following activities:

(i) joint processing;

(ii) joint distribution, including by joint selling platforms or joint transportation;

(iii) joint packaging, labelling or promotion;

(iv) joint organising of quality control;

(v) joint use of equipment or storage facilities;

(vi) joint management of waste directly related to the production;

(vii) joint procurement of inputs; (viii) any other joint service activities pursuing one of the objectives listed in point (c) of this paragraph;

(c) pursue a specific aim which may include at least one of the following objectives:

(i) ensuring that production is planned and adjusted to demand, particularly in terms of quality and quantity;

(ii) concentration of supply and the placing on the market of the products produced by its members, including through direct marketing;

(iii) optimising production costs and returns on investments in response to environmental and animal welfare standards, and stabilising producer prices;

(iv) carrying out research and developing initiatives on sustainable production methods, innovative practices, economic competitiveness and market developments;

(v) promoting, and providing technical assistance for, the use of environmentally sound cultivation practices and production techniques, and sound animal welfare practices and techniques;

(vi) promoting, and providing technical assistance for, the use of production standards, improving product quality and developing products with a protected designation of origin, with a protected geographical indication or covered by a national quality label;

(vii) the management and valorisation of by-products, of residual flows and of waste, in particular to protect the quality of water, soil and landscape, preserving or encouraging biodiversity, and boosting circularity; (viii) contributing to a sustainable use of natural resources and to climate change mitigation;

(ix) developing initiatives in the area of promotion and marketing;

(x) managing mutual funds;

(xi) providing the necessary technical assistance for the use of the futures markets and of insurance schemes.

1a. By way of derogation from Article 101(1) TFEU, a producer organisation recognised under paragraph 1 of this Article may plan production, optimise the production costs, place on the market and negotiate contracts for the supply of agricultural products, on behalf of its members for all or part of their total production. The activities referred to in the first subparagraph may take place:

(a) provided that one or more of the activities referred to in point (b)(i) to (vii) of paragraph 1 is genuinely exercised, thus contributing to the fulfilment of the objectives set out in Article 39 TFEU;

(b) provided that the producer organisation concentrates supply and places the products of its members on the market, whether or not there is a transfer of ownership of agricultural products by the producers to the producer organisation;

(c) whether or not the price negotiated is the same as regards the aggregate production of some or all of the members;

(d) provided that the producers concerned are not members of any other producer organisation as regards the products covered by the activities referred to in the first subparagraph;

(e) provided that the agricultural product is not covered by an obligation to deliver arising from the farmer's membership of a cooperative, which is not itself a member of the producer organisations concerned, in accordance with the conditions set out in the cooperative's statutes or the rules and decisions provided for in or derived from those statutes. However, Member States may derogate from the condition set out in point (d) of the second subparagraph in duly justified cases where producer members hold two distinct production units located in different geographical areas.

1b. For the purposes of this Article, references to producer organisations shall also include associations of producer organisations recognised under Article 156(1) if such associations meet the requirements set out in paragraph 1 of this Article.

1c. The national competition authority referred to in Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 may decide in individual cases that, for the future, one or more of the activities referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1a are to be modified, discontinued or not take place at all if it considers that this is necessary in order to prevent competition from being excluded or if it considers that the objectives set out in Article 39 TFEU are jeopardised. For negotiations covering more than one Member State, the decision referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall be taken by the Commission without applying the procedure referred to in Article 229(2) or (3). When acting under the first subparagraph of this paragraph, the national competition authority shall inform the Commission in writing before or without delay after initiating the first formal measure of the investigation and shall notify the Commission of the decisions without delay after their adoption. The decisions referred to in this paragraph shall not apply earlier than the date of their notification to the undertakings concerned.

2. A producer organisation recognised under paragraph 1 may continue to be recognised if it engages in the marketing of products falling within CN code ex 22 08 other than those referred to in Annex I to the Treaties, provided that the proportion of such products does not exceed 49 % of the total value of marketed production of the producer organisation and that such products do not benefit from Union support. Those products do not count, for producer organisations in the fruit and vegetables sector, towards the calculation of the value of marketed production for the purposes of Article 34(2).

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