Introductory text

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 of 22 October 2007 establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation)^f1, and in particular Article 127 in conjunction with Article 4 thereof,

Whereas:

Council Regulation (EC) No 1952/2005 of 23 November 2005 concerning the common organisation of the market in hops^f2 is to be repealed from 1 July 2008 under Article 201(1)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 (Single CMO Regulation).

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^f3.

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.

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.

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

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: