Article 28Authorisation procedure in case of a parallel application for the authorisation of a health claim
1.The Commission shall, on request by the applicant, stay an authorisation procedure for a novel food started following an application, where the applicant has submitted:
(a)a request for data protection in accordance with Article 26; and
(b)an application for the authorisation of a health claim on the same novel food in accordance with Article 15 or 18 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, in conjunction with a request for data protection in accordance with Article 21 of that Regulation.
The stay of the authorisation procedure shall be without prejudice to the assessment of the food by the Authority in accordance with Article 11.
2.The Commission shall inform the applicant about the date of effect of the stay.
3.While the authorisation procedure is stayed, time shall cease to run for the purposes of the time-limit laid down in Article 12(1).
4.The authorisation procedure shall resume when the Commission has received the opinion of the Authority on the health claim pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006.
The Commission shall inform the applicant about the date of resumption of the authorisation procedure. From the date of resumption, time shall begin to run afresh from the beginning for the purposes of the time-limit laid down in Article 12(1) of this Regulation.
5.In the cases referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, where data protection has been granted in accordance with Article 21 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, the period of data protection granted in accordance with Article 26 of this Regulation shall not exceed the period of data protection granted in accordance with Article 21 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006.
6.The applicant may withdraw at any time the request for staying the authorisation procedure submitted in accordance with paragraph 1. In that case, the authorisation procedure shall resume and paragraph 5 shall not apply.