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1. Article 101(1) TFEU shall not apply to agreements, decisions and concerted practices of interbranch organisations recognised under Article 157 of this Regulation which are necessary in order to meet the objectives listed in Article 157(1), point (c), of this Regulation or, as regards the olive oil and table olives and tobacco sectors, the objectives listed in Article 162 of this Regulation, and which are not incompatible with Union rules under paragraph 4 of this Article. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices which fulfil the conditions referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall not be prohibited, no prior decision to that effect being required.

2. Recognised interbranch organisations may request an opinion from the Commission concerning the compatibility of agreements, decisions and concerted practices as referred to in paragraph 1 with this Article. The Commission shall send the requesting interbranch organisation its opinion within four months of receipt of a complete request.

If the Commission finds at any time after issuing an opinion that the conditions referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article are no longer met, it shall declare that Article 101(1) TFEU shall apply in the future to the agreement, decision or concerted practice in question and inform the interbranch organisation accordingly. The Commission may change the content of an opinion at its own initiative or at the request of a Member State, in particular if the requesting interbranch organisation has provided inaccurate information or misused the opinion.

————— 4. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices shall in any case be declared incompatible with Union rules if they:

(a) may lead to the partitioning of markets within the Union in any form;

(b) may affect the sound operation of the market organisation;

(c) may create distortions of competition which are not essential to achieving the objectives of the CAP pursued by the interbranch organisation activity;

(d) entail the fixing of prices or the fixing of quotas;

(e) may create discrimination or eliminate competition in respect of a substantial proportion of the products in question.

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7. The Commission may adopt implementing acts laying down the measures necessary for the uniform application of this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 229(2).