Statutes of producer organisations
Article 153
1. The statutes of a producer organisation shall require its producer members, in particular, to: (a) apply the rules adopted by the producer organisation relating to production reporting, production, marketing and protection of the environment; (b) be members of only one producer organisation for any given product of the holding; however Member States may derogate from this condition in duly justified cases where producer members hold two distinct production units located in different geographical areas; (c) provide the information requested by the producer organisation for statistical purposes. 2. The statutes of a producer organisation shall also provide for: (a) procedures for determining, adopting and amending the rules referred to in point (a) of paragraph 1; (b) the imposition on members of financial contributions needed to finance the producer organisation; (c) rules enabling the producer members to scrutinise democratically their organisation and its decisions; (d) penalties for infringement of obligations under the statutes, particularly for non-payment of financial contributions, or of the rules laid down by the producer organisation; (e) rules on the admission of new members, and in particular the minimum period of membership which may not be less than one year; (f) the accounting and budgetary rules necessary for the operation of the organisation. 3. Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply to producer organisations in the milk and milk products sector.