THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007 (1), and in particular Article 173(1), point (i) and Article 223(2), point (a), thereof,

Whereas:

(1)	Reporting requirements play a key role in ensuring proper monitoring and correct enforcement of legislation. However, it is important to streamline those requirements in order to ensure that they fulfil the purpose for which they were intended and to limit the administrative burden.

(2)

Article 164 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 lays down specific rules on the extension of rules of producer organisations, associations of producer organisations and interbranch organisations to other operators acting in the same economic area or areas who do not belong to the organisation or association. That Article provides for the obligation of Member States to inform the Commission of any decisions taken in relation to such extensions without stipulating further modalities or timelines in this regard.

(3)

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/232 (2) lays down rules that clarify, among other things, the scope and timelines of the notifications of Member States to the Commission regarding various aspects related to producer cooperation, including those related to producer organisations, associations of producer organisations and interbranch organisations.

(4)

Member States’ extension of rules decisions should therefore be listed among the data to be notified once a year pursuant to Article 5 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/232. That simplification is in accordance with the Commission’s Communication on ‘Long-term competitiveness of the EU: looking beyond 2030’ (3).

(5)	Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/232 should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

In Article 5 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/232, the following paragraph 2a is inserted:

‘2a. By 31 March each year, Member States shall notify the Commission of the following information concerning the extension of rules decisions taken during the previous year pursuant to Article 164 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013: the title of each decision, the sector concerned, the date of adoption of the decision, the period of application of the extension, the official publication references and, where applicable, the uniform resource locator (URL) of the decision.’.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 17 October 2023.

For the Commission

The President

Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(2) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/232 of 15 December 2015 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to certain aspects of producer cooperation (OJ L 44, 19.2.2016, p. 1).