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1. Within three months from the date of publication of the product specification in the Official Journal of the European Union in accordance with Article 59(4), the authorities of a Member State or of a third country, or a natural or legal person having a legitimate interest and established or resident in a third country, may lodge an opposition with the Commission.

2. Any natural or legal person having a legitimate interest and established or resident in a Member State other than the one from which the application for registration at Union stage was submitted, may lodge an opposition with the Member State in which it is established or resident, within a time limit permitting that Member State to examine that opposition and to decide whether to lodge it with the Commission in accordance with paragraph 1. Member States may specify that time limit in their national legislation.

3. An opposition shall state that it opposes the registration of a traditional speciality guaranteed. An opposition that does not contain that statement shall be void.

4. The Commission shall check the admissibility of the opposition. If the Commission considers that the opposition is admissible it shall, within five months from the date of publication referred to in Article 59(4) of the product specification in the Official Journal of the European Union, invite the opponent and the applicant to engage in appropriate consultations for a reasonable period that shall not exceed three months. The Commission shall transmit to the applicant the opposition and all the documents provided by the opponent. At any time during that period, the Commission may, at the request of the applicant, extend the deadline for the consultations once by a maximum of three months.

5. The opponent and the applicant shall start consultations without undue delay. They shall provide each other with the relevant information to assess whether the application for registration complies with the conditions of this Chapter.

6. Within one month from the end of the consultations referred to in paragraph 4, the applicant shall notify the Commission of the result of the consultations, including all the information exchanged, whether agreement was reached with one or all of the opponents, and of any consequent changes to the application. The opponent may also notify the Commission of its position at the end of the consultations.

7. Where, following the end of the consultations, the product specification published in accordance with Article 59(4) has been modified, the Commission shall repeat its examination of the application for registration as modified. Where the application has been modified in a substantial manner, and the Commission considers that the modified application meets the conditions for registration, it shall publish again the product specification in accordance with that paragraph.

8. The documents referred to in this Article shall be drafted in one of the official languages of the Union.

9. The Commission shall finalise its assessment of the application for registration at Union stage, taking into account any request for transitional periods, the outcome of the opposition procedure and any other matters arising subsequently to its examination that may imply a change of the product specification.

10. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 87 supplementing this Regulation by laying down detailed procedures and deadlines for the opposition procedure.

11. The Commission shall, by means of implementing acts, lay down the format and presentation of oppositions and provide for the exclusion or anonymisation of personal data. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 88(2).