Submission and validation of the application
Article 3
1. An applicant wishing to seek the renewal of an authorisation by or on behalf of an authorisation holder (hereinafter ‘the applicant’) shall submit an application to the competent authority of the reference Member State at least 550 days before the expiry date of the authorisation. 2. The applicant shall, at the same time when submitting the application to the reference Member State, submit to the competent authorities of the Member States concerned an application for renewal of the authorisations granted in those Member States. 3. The competent authorities of the reference Member State and of the Member States concerned shall inform the applicant of the fees payable under Article 80 of Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 and shall reject the application if the applicant fails to pay the fees within 30 days. They shall inform the applicant and the other competent authorities accordingly. 4. Upon receipt of those fees, the competent authorities of the reference Member State and of the Member States concerned shall accept the application and inform the applicant indicating the dates of acceptance. 5. Within 30 days of the acceptance in the reference Member State, that Member State shall validate the application if it contains all the relevant information referred to in Article 2. The reference Member State shall inform the applicant and the Member States concerned accordingly. When validating the application, the reference Member State shall not make an assessment of the quality or adequacy of the data or justifications submitted. 6. Within 30 days of acceptance by a Member State concerned, that Member State shall verify whether the authorisation falls within the scope of this Regulation as provided for by Article 1(2) and (3). Where the authorisation does not fall within the scope of this Regulation, the competent authority in the Member State concerned shall process the application as an application submitted in accordance with Article 31(1) of Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 and it shall inform the applicant and the competent authorities in other Member States accordingly. 7. Where the competent authority of the reference Member State considers that the application is incomplete, it shall require additional information for the validation of the application from the applicant and shall set a reasonable time limit for the submission of that information. The time limit shall not normally exceed 90 days. The competent authority of the reference Member State shall, within 30 days of receipt of the additional information, validate the application if the additional information is sufficient for the application to comply with the requirements laid down in Article 2. The competent authority of the reference Member State shall reject the application if the applicant fails to submit the required information within the deadline and shall inform the applicant and the Member States concerned accordingly.