Within three months from the date of publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, the authorities of a Member State or of a third country, or a natural or legal person having a legitimate interest and resident or established in a third country may submit a notice of opposition to the Commission.

Any natural or legal person having a legitimate interest and resident or established in a Member State other than that from which the application was submitted, may submit a notice of opposition to the Member State in which that person is resident or established within a time limit permitting an opposition to be submitted pursuant to the first subparagraph.

A notice of opposition shall contain a declaration that the application might infringe the requirements of this Chapter.

A notice of opposition that does not contain such a declaration shall be void.

The Commission shall forward the notice of opposition without delay to the authority or body that submitted the application.

If a notice of opposition is submitted to the Commission and is followed within two months by a reasoned statement of opposition, the Commission shall check the admissibility of this reasoned statement of opposition.

Within two months from the receipt of an admissible reasoned statement of opposition, the Commission shall invite the authority or person that submitted the opposition and the authority or body that submitted the application to engage in appropriate consultations for a period that shall not exceed three months. That deadline shall start on the date when the invitation to the interested parties is delivered by electronic means.

The authority or person that submitted the opposition and the authority or body that submitted the application shall start such appropriate consultations without undue delay. They shall provide each other with the relevant information to assess whether the application for registration complies with the requirements of this Chapter. If no agreement is reached, that information shall also be provided to the Commission.

When the interested parties reach an agreement, the authorities of the Member State or of the third country from which the application was submitted shall notify the Commission of all the factors which enabled that agreement to be reached, including the opinions of the applicant and of the authorities of a Member State or of a third country, or of other natural and legal persons having submitted an opposition.

Irrespective of whether an agreement has been reached or not, the notification to the Commission shall be made within one month from the end of the consultations.

At any time during those three months, the Commission may, at the request of the applicant extend the deadline for the consultations by a maximum of three months.

Where, following the appropriate consultations referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article, the details published in accordance with Article 26(2) have been substantially amended, the Commission shall repeat the scrutiny referred to in Article 26.

The notice of opposition, the reasoned statement of opposition and the related documents which are sent to the Commission in accordance with paragraphs 1 to 4 shall be in one of the official languages of the Union.