Article 1 F1

they have legal personality or sufficient legal capacity to be subject, F5in law, to rights and obligations;

they apply common rules for production and the first marketing stage within the meaning of the second subparagraph;

their statutes include an obligation for producers who are members of groups to:

1. (i)

   comply with the common rules on production and decisions on the varieties to be grown;

2. (ii)

   market all their produce through the group;

they provide proof of economically viable activity;

they exclude throughout their field of activity any discrimination between F6United Kingdom producers or groups in respect of, in particular, their nationality or place of establishment;

they guarantee all producers who undertake to comply with the statutes, without discrimination, the right to belong to a group;

their statutes include provisions aimed at ensuring that the members of a group who wish to give up their membership may do so after having been a member for at least three years and provided that they inform the group of their intention at least one year before they leave, without prejudice to F7any laws or regulations designed to protect, in specific cases, the group or creditors thereof against the financial consequences which might arise from a member leaving, or to prevent a member from leaving during the financial year;

their statutes include the obligation to keep separate accounts for the activities in respect of which they have been recognised;

they do not hold a dominant position in the F8United Kingdom.

replace the obligation to have all their production marketed by the producer group provided for in paragraph 2(c)(ii) by the obligation to market in accordance with common rules incorporated in the statutes, in order to ensure that the producer group has the right to monitor selling prices, which it must approve, failure to do so requiring the group to buy back the hops concerned at a higher price;

market, through the offices of another producer group chosen by their own group, products which by virtue of their characteristics are not necessarily covered by F9the commercial activities of the latter.

as regards production:

1. (i)

   provisions concerning the use of one or more specified varieties when renewing plantations or creating new ones;

2. (ii)

   provisions concerning compliance with certain methods of cultivation and plant protection;

3. (iii)

   provisions concerning harvesting, drying and, where appropriate, preparation for marketing;

as regards placing on the market, particularly where concentration and conditions of supply are concerned:

1. (i)

   general provisions governing sales by the group;

2. (ii)

   provisions relating to the quantities which the producers are authorised to sell themselves and the rules governing these sales.