No L 101/38 Official Journal of the European -Communities 21. 4. 90 COMMISSION DECISION of 11 October 1989 - concerning aid granted in the Netherlands and financed by means of levies payable by the Produktschap voor Landouwzaaizaden (Commodity Board for the Seed Sector) (Only the Dutch text is authentic) (90/189/EEC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European - Economic Community, and in particular the first subpara- graph of Article 93 (2) thereof, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2358/71 of 26 October 1971-on the common organization of the market in seeds (), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1239/89 (3, and in particular-Article 8 thereof, and to the corresponding provisions of other Regulations on the common ofganization of markets in agricultural products, Having given notice to the parties concerned, in -accor- dance with Article-93 (2) of the Treaty (), to submit their comments, Whereas : Following a written question (No 1532/85) from a Member. of the European Parliament, the Commission invited the-Dutch authorities to forward to the Commis- sion, in accordance with Article 93 (3) of the Treaty, all the necessary information about produktschappen. Sectoral organizations have existed in the Netherlands for more than thirty years by virtue of the Sectoral Organiza- tion Act of 14 February 1950 (Wet op de Bedrijfsorgani- satie). It is a skeleton law authorizing the creation, at the - request of the economic sectors involved, of central indus- trial boards, industry boards and commodity boards. A Central Commodity-Board and-Commodity Boards can be set up for the benefit of two or more groups of under- takings which carry out different operations -vis-g-vis a given product or group of products (vertical organiza- tions). A Central Industrial Board and Industry Boards can be set up for the benefit of undertakings which carry-out iden- tical or similar operations wvis-d-vis different products (horizontal organizations). ( No L 246, 5. 11. 1971, p. 1. () OJ No L 128, 11. 5. 1989, p. 35. ( No C 115, 30. 4. 1987, p. 5. The competent minister may designate one or more persons to represent him at the meetings organized by the steering committee of a ‘produktschap’ or a ‘hoofdpro- duktschap’. These ministerial representatives have an advisory capa- city. If a regulation or other decision requires the approval of the minister or ministers concerned, approval can be withheld only on grounds of incompatibility with the-law or the public interest. Sectoral organizations are financed by levies (heffingen) at the different production, processing and marketing stages. The organizations’ rules imposing these levies (heffingve- rordening) apply to all undertakings whose activities fall within the scope of those organizations. The levies are .compulsory ; refusal to pay them is punishable. The levies can therefore.be seen as parafiscal taxes. The levies are either general (algemene heffingen) or specific (specifieke heffingen). The former are mainly to finance administration and organization costs, the latter to finance specific expenditure, such as aid for various objec- tives. These parafiscal taxes are collected at the different marke- ting- stages : direct sale by the producer, sale at auctions (veilingen), sales by wholesalers and retailers and the sale of processed products-by manufacturers. The regulations which impose the levies may also contain rules governing levies on imported products. I 1. After an exchange of correspondence between the Commission and the Dutch authorities, the Commission informed.the Dutch Government, in a letter dated 23 December 1986, that it had decided to initiate the proce- dure provided for in Article 93 (2) of the Treaty in respect of the aids in question, since it did not possess sufficient information to establish that they were eligible for a dero- gation under Article 92 (2) and (3) of the Treaty: Under the said procedure, the Commission therefore requested additional information : — on the method for charging the parafiscal taxes used to finance the aids, in order to establish whether or not these taxes had an effect equivalent to customs