Article 1

Commission Regulation (EC) No 353/2008^f1 is amended as follows:

1. 1..

   the following Article 7a is inserted after Article 7:

   ‘Verification of the validity of applications by the Member States

   Article 7a

   1.

   In accordance with Article 15(2)(a) and Article 18(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, Member States shall verify the validity of applications before making them available to the Authority.

   2.

   For the purposes of paragraph 1, the national competent authority shall verify that applications submitted under Article 15 or 18 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 include the data as referred to in Article 15(3) of that Regulation.

   3.

   The national competent authority shall also verify that:

   1. (i)

      for applications submitted under Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 the health claim is a health claim concerning the reduction of disease risk claims or referring to children’s development and health;

   2. (ii)

      for applications submitted under Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 the health claim is any health claim as referred to in Article 13(5) of that Regulation with the exception of health claims referring to children’s development and health.’;

2. 2..

   the following Article 7b is inserted after Article 7a:

   ‘Withdrawal of applications

   Article 7b

   1.

   An application submitted under Article 15 or 18 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 may be withdrawn by the applicant up to the moment the Authority adopts its opinion pursuant to Article 16(1) or Article 18(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006.

   2.

   A request for withdrawal of an application must be submitted to the national competent authority of a Member State, to which the application was submitted in accordance with Article 15(2) or Article 18(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006.

   3.

   The national competent authority shall, without delay, inform the Authority, the Commission and the other Member States of the withdrawal. Only the withdrawal of the application under the conditions mentioned in paragraph 1 and in this paragraph puts an end to the procedure.’.