In order to qualify for aid under the private storage aid scheme referred to in Article 1(1), hereinafter the ‘aid’, the cheese shall be of sound and fair marketable quality and of Union origin. The cheese shall have, on the day when the storage contract starts, a minimum age corresponding to the period of maturation laid down in the product specification for the cheeses benefitting from a protected designation of origin or from a protected geographical indication under Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, or to a normal period of maturation set by Member States for the other cheeses.