21. 4. 90 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 101/35 COMMISSION PECISION® of 11 October 1989 concerning aid granted in the Netherlands and financed by means of levies payable by the Produktschap voor Veevoeder (Commodity Board for the Animal Feedingstuffs Sector) (Only the Dutch text is authentic) (90/188/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 1117/78 of 22-May 1978 on the common organization of the market in dried fodder ('), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2275/89:(% and in particular Article 9 thereof; and to the corresponding provisions of other Regulations on the common organization 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 industrial Organi- zation 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 wvis-d-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 or undertakings which carry out iden- tical or similar operations wis-d-vis different products {horizontal organizations). () OJ No L 142, 30. 5. 1978, p. 1. () OJ No L 218, 28. 7. 1989, p. 1. () OJ No C 115, 30. 4. 1987, p. S. 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 representative have an advisory capacity. If a regulation or other decision requires the approval of - the minister or ministers concerned,” approval can be withheld onlyon 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. ' II 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 duties or constituted discriminatory internal taxes or whether the system, in view of the aids it financed, was compatible with the requirements of Article 92 of the Treaty;