1.Where the applicant is a SME or has its head office established in a developing country, the financial contributions referred to in Article 3(1) and (2) shall be reduced by 50 %.
2.Where the same method of detection and identification has already been included in a previous application by the same applicant for products related to the same GMO and that method has been validated and published by the CRL or its validation is pending, that applicant shall be exempted from the payment of the financial contributions referred to Article 3.
However, where costs are incurred by the CRL in carrying out the validation tasks laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003, the CRL may charge the applicant a maximum contribution of EUR 30 000.
3.Article 3(3) shall not apply where the applicant is a SME or has its head office established in a developing country, nor to applications submitted before the entry into force of this Regulation.