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1. Prior to placing any products on the market as ‘organic’ or as ‘in-conversion’ or prior to the conversion period, operators and groups of operators referred to in Article 36 which produce, prepare, distribute or store organic or in-conversion products, which import such products from a third country or export such products to a third country, or which place such products on the market, shall notify their activity to the competent authorities of the Member State in which it is carried out and in which their undertaking is subject to the control system. Where the competent authorities have conferred their responsibilities or delegated certain official control tasks or certain tasks related to other official activities to more than one control authority or control body, the operators or groups of operators shall indicate in the notification referred to in the first subparagraph which control authority or control body verifies whether their activity complies with this Regulation and provides the certificate referred to in Article 35(1).

2. Operators that sell prepacked organic products directly to the final consumer or user shall be exempted from the notification obligation referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article and from the obligation to be in the possession of a certificate referred to in Article 35(2) provided that they do not produce, prepare, store other than in connection with the point of sale, or import such products from a third country, or subcontract such activities to another operator.

3. Where operators or groups of operators subcontract any of their activities to third parties, both the operators or groups of operators and the third parties to whom those activities have been subcontracted shall comply with paragraph 1, unless the operator or group of operators has declared in the notification referred to in paragraph 1 that it remains responsible as regards organic production and that it has not transferred that responsibility to the subcontractor. In such cases, the competent authority, or, where appropriate, the control authority or control body, shall verify that the subcontracted activities comply with this Regulation, in the context of the control it carries out on the operators or groups of operators that have subcontracted their activities.

4. Member States may designate an authority or approve a body which is to receive the notifications referred to in paragraph 1.

5. Operators, groups of operators and subcontractors shall keep records in accordance with this Regulation on the different activities they engage in.

6. Member States shall keep updated lists containing the names and addresses of operators and groups of operators that have notified their activities in accordance with paragraph 1 and shall make public in an appropriate manner, including by means of links to a single internet website, a comprehensive list of this data, together with the information relating to the certificates provided to those operators and groups of operators in accordance with Article 35(1). When doing so, Member States shall comply with the requirements for the protection of personal data under Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council ().

7. Member States shall ensure that any operator or group of operators that complies with this Regulation and, in cases where a fee is collected in accordance with Articles 78 and 80 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, that pays a reasonable fee covering the cost of controls is entitled to be covered by the control system. Member States shall ensure that any fees that may be collected are made public.

8. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 54 amending Annex II as regards the requirements for keeping records.

9. The Commission may adopt implementing acts to provide details and specifications regarding:

(a) the format and technical means of the notification referred to in paragraph 1;

(b) the arrangements for the publication of the lists referred to in paragraph 6; and (c) the procedures and the arrangements for publication of the fees referred to in paragraph 7. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 55(2).