# C_2022213EN.01003001.xml

| 30.5.2022 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 213/30 |
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30.5.2022

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 213/30

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Request for a preliminary ruling from the Conseil d’État (France) lodged on 10 March 2022 –Saint-Louis Sucre v Premier ministre, Ministre de l’Agriculture et de l’Alimentation, SICA des betteraviers d’Étrépagny

(Case C-183/22)

(2022/C 213/41)

Language of the case: French

Referring court

Conseil d’État

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Saint-Louis Sucre

Defendants: Premier ministre, Ministre de l’Agriculture et de l’Alimentation, SICA des betteraviers d’Étrépagny

Questions referred

| 1. | Must the rule set out in [the French version of] Article 153(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of 17 December 2013, (1) according to which the statutes of a producer organisation require its members to ‘be members of only one producer organisation for any given product of the holding’, be interpreted as applying only to producer members? |
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1.

Must the rule set out in [the French version of] Article 153(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of 17 December 2013, (1) according to which the statutes of a producer organisation require its members to ‘be members of only one producer organisation for any given product of the holding’, be interpreted as applying only to producer members?

| 2. | In order to ensure compliance with the principle set out in Article 153(2)(c) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, according to which the producer members of a producer organisation must scrutinise democratically their organisation and its decisions:






  — | is it necessary, in order to assess the independence of the members of the organisation, to take account exclusively of the holding of their capital by the same natural or legal person, or also of other links such as, for non-producer members, affiliation to the same union confederation, or, for producer members, the exercise of management responsibilities within such a confederation? |
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2.

In order to ensure compliance with the principle set out in Article 153(2)(c) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, according to which the producer members of a producer organisation must scrutinise democratically their organisation and its decisions:

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is it necessary, in order to assess the independence of the members of the organisation, to take account exclusively of the holding of their capital by the same natural or legal person, or also of other links such as, for non-producer members, affiliation to the same union confederation, or, for producer members, the exercise of management responsibilities within such a confederation?

| — | is it sufficient, in order to conclude that producer members do have control over the organisation, for those members to have a majority of the votes, or is it necessary to examine whether, in view of the distribution of votes among members who are genuinely independent, the voting share of one or more non-producer members enables them, even without a majority, to control the decisions taken by the organisation? |
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is it sufficient, in order to conclude that producer members do have control over the organisation, for those members to have a majority of the votes, or is it necessary to examine whether, in view of the distribution of votes among members who are genuinely independent, the voting share of one or more non-producer members enables them, even without a majority, to control the decisions taken by the organisation?

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(1)  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 (OJ 2013 L 347, p. 671).

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