1.Member States shall make the permit applications available to the Commission within one month after receipt. They shall also make available other related material that shall be taken into account by the competent authority when it seeks to make a decision on the award of a storage permit. They shall inform the Commission of all draft storage permits and any other material taken into consideration for the adoption of the draft decision. Within four months after receipt of the draft storage permit, the Commission may issue a non-binding opinion on it. If the Commission decides not to issue an opinion, it shall inform the Member State within one month of submission of the draft permit and state its reasons.
2.The competent authority shall notify the final decision to the Commission, and where it departs from the Commission opinion it shall state its reasons.