L 345/24 Official Journal of the European Union 23.12.2008 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1327/2008 of 19 December 2008 amending Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 laying down implementing rules of Council Regulations (EC) No 2200/96, (EC) No 2201/96 and (EC) No 1182/2007 in the fruit and vegetable sector THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 of 22 October 2007 establishing a common organisation of agri- cultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agri- cultural products (Single CMO Regulation) ('), and in particular Articles 103h and 127 in conjunction with Article 4 thereof, Whereas: 1 *) e 0) 0 Commission Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 (3) provides for detailed rules concerning producer organisations in the fruit and vegetable sector. To ensure that all producers may participate democra- tically in decisions concerning the producer organisation, Member States should be able to adopt measures to permit, restrict or prohibit the powers of a legal entity to modify, approve or reject decisions of a producer organisation where it is a clearly defined part of that legal entity. Article 32(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 provides for the possibility for Member States to allow, restrict or prohibit the right to vote of non-producer members of a producer organisation on decisions relating to operation- al funds. It is desirable to apply this provision equally to members of associations of producer organisations which are not producer organisations pursuant to Article 36(2) of the said Regulation in order to make the implemen- tation of partial operational programmes by associations of producer organisations more flexible. Moreover, the reference made to the right to vote on decisions relating to operational funds should refer, for reasons of clarity, to decisions relating to operational programmes, since decisions relating to operational funds should be taken by the producer organisation directly and not by the association of producer organis- ations. In order to ensure legal certainty, it should be made clear that aid to encourage the formation of producer groups and to facilitate their administrative operation provided for in Article 103a(1)a of Regulation (EC) No 12342007 is a flat-rate payment and that evidence as to the use of aid is not necessary in the applications for aid. L 299, 16.11.2007, p. 1. L 350, 31.12.2007, p. 1. () Article 52(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 provides that only the production of the members of the producer organisation marketed by the producer organisation itself or in conformity with Article 125a(2)(b) and (c) of Regu- lation (EC) No 1234/2007 should be counted in the value of marketed production (VMP). This allows the production that members market themselves under those paragraphs to be included in the VMP of the producer organisation in which the producer is member, but excludes products marketed by the members themselves under Article 125a(2)(a) of Regu- lation (EC) No 1234/2007. In the interests of producer organisations, the product sold directly by farmers through a second producer organisation should be included in the VMP of the second producer organis- ation. The product sold directly by farmers on the market should not be included in the VMP of the producer organisation of which this producer is member. In order to ensure legal certainty, it should be made clear that the level of support for producer groups as laid down in Articles 103a(l) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 and Article 49 of Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 may under certain circumstances exceed that applicable for the measures under the rural develop- ment programime. The third and fourth subparagraphs of Article 60(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 provide for a limitation of the support for environmental actions to the maximum amounts laid down in the Annex to Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 of 20 September 2005 on support for rural development by the European Agri- cultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) (). Certain types of environmental actions do not relate directly or indirectly to a particular parcel. Article 60(2) should therefore be amended to exclude such actions from this limitation. Article 63(3)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 provides that Member States have to ensure that the actions concerning partial operational programmes are fully financed from contributions of member producer organisations paid out of the operational funds of those organisations. It is desirable to allow members of associations of producer organisations, which are not producer organisations, to finance actions or investments undertaken by the association of producer organisation, on condition these members are producers or their coop- eratives. However, pursuant to Article 36(2) of Regu- lation (EC) No 1580/2007, they may only indirectly benefit from measures financed by the Community, e.g. as a result of effects of scale. () O] L 277, 21.10.2005, p. 1.