CHAPTER II

PROTECTED DESIGNATIONS OF ORIGIN AND GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
SECTION 5

Amendments and cancellation

Amendment to the product specification or single document
Article 20
1
An application for approval of amendments to the product specification submitted by an applicant as referred to in Article 37 of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 of a protected designation of origin or geographical indication shall be drawn up in accordance with Annex IV to this Regulation.
2
For the purposes of determining whether an application for the approval of amendments to the product specification pursuant to Article 49(1) of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 is admissible, the Commission shall verify that it has been sent the information required under Article 35(2) of that Regulation and a completed application as referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article.
3
For the purposes of the application of Article 49(2), first sentence, of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008, Articles 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 of this Regulation shall apply mutandis mutadis.
4
An amendment is considered to be minor if:
a
it does not relate the essential characteristics of the product;
b
it does not alter the link;
c
it does not include a change in the name or any part of the name of the product;
d
it does not affect the demarcated geographical area;
e
it does not entail any further restrictions on the marketing of the product.
5
Where the application for approval of amendments to the product specification is submitted by an applicant other than the initial applicant, the commission shall communicate the application to the initial applicant.
6
Where the Commission decides to accept an amendment to the product specification that affects or comprises an amendment to the information recorded in the Register, it shall delete the original data from the Register and enter the new data with effect from the date on which the relevant decision takes effect.

Submission of a request of cancellation
Article 21
1
A request of cancellation pursuant to Article 50 of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 shall be drawn up in accordance with the form set out in Annex V to this Regulation. The request of cancellation shall be submitted to the Commission in paper or electronic form. The date of submission of the request of cancellation to the Commission shall be the date on which the request is entered in the Commission's mail registry. That date is made available to the public by appropriate means.
2
The Commission shall mark the documents making up the request for cancellation with the date of receipt and the file number allocated to the request of cancellation.
The author of the request of cancellation shall receive an acknowledgement of receipt indicating at least:
a
the file number;
b
the number of pages received; and
c
the date of receipt of the request.
3
Paragraphs 1 and 2 do not apply when the cancellation is initiated by the Commission.

Admissibility
Article 22
1
For the purposes of determining whether a request of cancellation is admissible, in accordance with Article 50 of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008, the Commission shall verify that the request:
a
mentions the legitimate interest, the reasons and justification of the author of the request of cancellation;
b
explains the ground for cancellation; and
c
refers to a statement from the Member State or third country where the residence or registered office of the author of the request is located supporting the request for cancellation.
2
Any request for cancellation shall contain details of the facts, evidence and comments submitted in support of the cancellation, accompanied by the relevant supporting documents.
3
If detailed information concerning the grounds, facts, evidence and comments, as well as the supporting documents referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2, have not been produced at the same time as the request of cancellation, the Commission shall inform the author of the request of cancellation accordingly and shall invite him to remedy the deficiencies noted within a period of two months. If the deficiencies are not remedied before the time limit expires, the Commission shall reject the request as inadmissible. The decision on inadmissibility shall be notified to the author of the request of cancellation and to the Member State or the third-country authorities or the author of the request of cancellation established in the third country in question.
4
Any request of cancellation that is deemed admissible, as well as a Commission own-initiative cancellation procedure, shall be notified to the Member State or the third-country authorities or the applicants established in the third country whose designation of origin or geographical indication is affected by the cancellation.

Scrutiny of a cancellation
Article 23
1
If the Commission has not rejected the request of cancellation in accordance with Article 22(3), it shall communicate the cancellation to the Member State or the third-country authorities or the producers concerned established in the third country in question and shall invite him to file observations within two months from the issuance date of such communication. Any observations received within this two months period shall be communicated, where applicable, to the author of the request of cancellation.
In the course of the scrutiny of a cancellation, the Commission shall request the parties to submit comments, if appropriate, within a period of two months from the issuance date of such request, on the communications received from the other parties.
2
If the Member State or the third-country authorities or the applicant established in the third country in question or the author of a request of cancellation files no observations in response, or does not respect the time periods, the Commission decides upon the cancellation.
3
Any decision to cancel the designation of origin or geographical indication concerned shall be taken by the Commission on the basis of the evidence available to it. It shall consider whether compliance with the product specification for a wine sector product covered by a protected designation of origin or geographical indication is no longer possible or can no longer be guaranteed, particularly if the conditions laid down in Article 35 of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 are no longer fulfilled or may no longer be fulfilled in the near future.
Such decision on cancellation shall be notified to the author of the request of cancellation and to the Member State or the third-country authorities or the applicant established in the third country in question.
4
In the event of multiple requests of cancellation, following a preliminary examination of one or more such requests of cancellation, it may not be possible to accept to continue to protect a designation or origin or geographical indication, in which case the Commission may suspend the other cancellation procedures. In this case the Commission shall inform the other authors of the requests of cancellation of any decision affecting them which was taken in the course of the procedure.
Where a protected designation of origin or geographical indication is cancelled, cancellation procedures which have been suspended shall be deemed to be closed and the authors of the request of cancellation concerned shall be duly informed.
5
When a cancellation takes effect, the Commission shall delete the name from the Register.