Democratic accountability of producer organisations
Article 17
1. Where a producer organisation has a legal structure requiring democratic accountability under the applicable national legislation, it shall be considered to fulfill this requirement for the purposes of this Regulation unless the Member State decides otherwise. 2. For producer organisations other than the one referred to in paragraph 1, Member States shall set a maximum percentage of voting rights and shares or capital which any natural or legal person may hold in a producer organisation. The maximum percentage of voting rights and shares or capital shall be below 50 % of the total voting rights and below 50 % of the shares or capital. In duly justified cases, Member States may set a higher maximum percentage of shares or capital that a legal person may hold in a producer organisation provided that measures are adopted to ensure that an abuse of power by such legal person is in any case avoided. By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, in the case of producer organisations implementing an operational programme on 17 May 2014, the maximum percentage of shares or capital set by the Member State pursuant to the first subparagraph shall only apply after the end of that operational programme. 3. Member States' authorities shall carry out checks, based on a risk analysis, on voting rights and shareholdings. Where the members of the producer organisation are legal persons themselves, these checks shall include the identities of the natural or legal persons that hold shares or capital of the members. 4. Where a producer organisation is a clearly defined part of a legal entity, Member States shall adopt measures to restrict or prohibit the powers of that legal entity to modify, approve or reject decisions of the producer organisation.