Amendment of the product specification

1.   The applicant in whose name a geographical indication has been registered, or a producer using a geographical indication in accordance with Article 47(1), may request the approval of an amendment to the product specification for that registered geographical indication.
2.   Amendments to the product specification shall be classified into two categories:
(a)
Union amendments as referred to in paragraph 3, requiring an opposition procedure at Union level, and
(b)
standard amendments examined at Member State or third-country level.
3.   An amendment shall be considered a Union amendment where it requires a revision of the single document and where any of the following conditions are met:
(a)
the amendment consists of a change in the name protected as a geographical indication, or in the use of that name;
(b)
there is a risk that the amendment would undermine the link between the geographical area and the product as referred to in the single document; or
(c)
the amendment entails restrictions on the marketing of the product.
4.   In relation to a request for a Union amendment, the steps of the national and Union phase as set out in Articles 7, 8 and 14 to 30, shall apply
mutatis mutandis
. A decision on a request for a Union amendment shall be taken by the Office or, where Article 30 applies, by the Commission.
5.   Any amendment to the product specification for a registered geographical indication, other than those referred to in paragraph 3, shall be considered to be a standard amendment and shall fall within the competence of the Member State or the third country in which the product originates. Standard amendments, once approved, shall be communicated to the Office by the relevant competent authority.
Where Article 20 applies, standard amendments shall be approved by the Office.
6.   A standard amendment shall be considered temporary where it concerns a temporary change in the product specification resulting from the imposition of obligatory sanitary measures by the public authorities, from a natural disaster or from adverse weather conditions recognised by the competent authorities, or from a man-made disaster, such as a war, a threat of war or a terrorist attack.
7.   A request for amendment submitted by the competent authority of a third country or by producers established in a third country shall contain proof that the requested amendment complies with the law on the protection of geographical indications in force in that third country.
8.   Where a request for a Union amendment concerning a geographical indication designating a product originating in a Member State also relates to standard amendments, only the Union amendment shall be examined by the Office or the Commission in accordance with paragraph 4.
9.   Where appropriate, the competent authority of the Member State concerned or the Office may invite the applicant in whose name the geographical indication has been registered to modify other elements of the product specification.
10.   The Office shall publish Union and standard amendments, once approved, in the Union register.
11.   The Commission may adopt implementing acts laying down detailed rules on the procedure for and form and presentation of a request for a Union amendment, and on the procedure for, and form of, standard amendments and the communication of such amendments to the Office. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 68(2).