Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 makes provision for laying down marketing standards for bananas. The purpose of those standards is to ensure that the market is supplied with products of uniform and satisfactory quality, in particular in the case of bananas harvested in the Union, for which efforts to improve quality should be made.

Given the wide range of varieties marketed in the Union and of marketing practices, minimum standards should be set for unripened green bananas, without prejudice to the later introduction of standards applicable at a different marketing stage. The characteristics of fig bananas and the way in which they are marketed are such that they should not be covered by the Union standards.

It seems appropriate, in view of the objectives pursued, to allow the banana-producing Member States to apply national standards within their territory to their own production but only at stages subsequent to unripened green bananas, provided those rules are not in conflict with Union standards and do not impede the free circulation of bananas in the Union.

Account should be taken of the fact that, because climatic factors make production conditions difficult in Madeira, the Azores, the Algarve, Crete, Lakonia and Cyprus, bananas there do not develop to the minimum length laid down. In those cases such bananas should still be allowed to be marketed, but only in Class II.

Measures should be adopted to ensure uniform application of the rules on marketing standards for bananas, in particular as regards conformity checks.

While taking due account of the nature of a highly perishable product and of the marketing practices and inspection procedures used in the trade, it should be laid down that checks on conformity are to be carried out in principle at the stage to which the standards apply.

A product which has satisfied checks at that stage is deemed to comply with the standards. That assessment should be without prejudice to any unannounced checks carried out subsequently up to the ripening depot stage.

The banana trade is subject to strong competition. The traders concerned have themselves introduced strict checks. Checks should not, therefore, be carried out at the stage laid down on traders who offer suitable guarantees as regards staff and handling facilities and who can guarantee that the bananas they market in the Union conform with Union standards. Such exemptions should be granted by the Member State on the territory of which the check is in principle to be carried out. Such exemptions should be withdrawn where the standards and conditions relating thereto are not met.

In order for checks to be carried out, information should be supplied to the competent bodies by the traders concerned.

The certificate of conformity issued upon completion of the checks should not constitute an accompanying document for the bananas up to the final stage of marketing, but a document of proof of the conformity of the bananas with Union standards up to the ripening depot stage, in accordance with the scope of the standard, to be presented at the request of the competent authorities. It should be stressed that bananas not conforming with the standards laid down in this Regulation may not be marketed for fresh consumption in the Union.

In order to monitor how the banana market functions, it is necessary for the Commission to receive information on the production and marketing of bananas produced in the Union. Rules covering the notification of such information by Member States should be laid down.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets,