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Recitals 15, 17, 24 to 27, 29 and 71 of Decision 2009/402 are worded as follows: ‘(15) Eight economic agricultural committees (Rhône-Méditerranée, Grand Sud-Ouest, Corse, Val de Loire, Nord, Nord-Est, Bretagne and Normandie) received public funding for many years, provided mainly by [the Office national interprofessionnel des fruits, des légumes et de l’horticulture (National Fruit, Vegetables and Horticulture Trade Board, France) (‘Oniflhor’)], and used to finance aid known as “contingency plans”, comprising measures both inside and outside the EU aimed at facilitating the marketing of agricultural products harvested in France, particularly in periods of crisis. … (17) As far as the exact nature of the measures was concerned, in their letter of 26 December 2002, the French authorities explained that they were aiming to prevent or, in the event of crises, to mitigate the effects of supply temporarily exceeding demand by acting on three levels: external markets, the internal market and processing. … (24) In its letter of 26 December 2002, France explained that 30-50% of the funding of these measures was covered by the sectors concerned, with the remainder coming from public funds. (25) [The Fédération des comités économiques agricoles rattachés à la filière de production des fruits et légumes (Federation of Economic Agricultural Committees connected with the fruit and vegetable production sector, France) (‘Fedecom’)] explained the funding mechanism for the “contingency plans” in detail, along with the role of the committees. France has not contested these explanations. (26) According to [Fedecom], the measures to apply were determined exclusively by [Oniflhor] and the economic committees were obliged to apply them. At the time of each contingency plan and for each type of plant, [Oniflhor] took a decision on which measures to take and entrusted the relevant national section with implementing them. [Oniflhor] also decided the sums allocated to the plans in question, as well as the amount of contributions that had to be paid by the economic committees. (27) The measures were financed from an operational fund managed by the economic committees. This fund worked on the basis of the same principles as those governing Community aid provided for by Article 15 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 of 28 October 1996 on the common organisation of the market in fruit and vegetables [OJ 1996 L 297, p. 1], in that part of the money came from public funds and part from financial contributions from the member producers (known as sectoral contributions), based on the quantity or value of the fruit and vegetables sold. The sectoral contributions were not made up of contributions for the extension of the rules. Thus they were not compulsory by virtue of a ministerial decree. … (29) [A table set out in paragraph 29] gives an overview of the amounts paid, in euro, by [Oniflhor] under the “contingency plans” from 1992 to 2002. These sums are broken down by year and by measure. However, for 1992 and 1993, the table only shows the overall amount of aid paid. France has explained that the [Oniflhor] archives do not allow for a more detailed breakdown for these two years. … (71) According to the information available to the Commission, the “contingency plans” provided for measures intended to deal with crises caused by a surplus of French products on the Community market, in particular by subsidising selling prices and providing subsidies for the storage or destruction of part of the harvest and financial incentives to process fresh products. On markets outside the European Union, export subsidies would also have helped to dispose of surplus French products and could have strengthened the operators’ competitive position. This aid seems to have been provided on the basis of prices and the quantity produced.’