Examination of the appeal
Article 7
1. The examination of the appeal shall be restricted to the grounds invoked in the statement of grounds. Matters of law not raised by the parties shall be examined by the Board of Appeal only where they concern essential procedural requirements or where it is necessary to resolve them to ensure a correct application of Regulation (EU) 2023/2411 having regard to the facts, evidence and arguments presented by the parties. 2. The examination of the appeal shall only include claims or requests that have been raised in the statement of grounds of the appeal and that were raised in due time in the proceedings before the Geographical Indications Division. 3. The Board of Appeal may accept facts or evidence submitted for the first time before it only where those facts or evidence meet the following requirements: (a) they are, on the face of it, likely to be relevant for the outcome of the case; and (b) they have not been produced in due time for valid reasons, in particular where they are merely supplementing relevant facts and evidence which had already been submitted in due time, or are filed to contest findings made or examined by the first instance of its own motion in the decision subject to appeal. 4. If the Board of Appeal decide to consult the Advisory Board during the appeal procedure as referred to in Article 33(5) of Regulation (EU) 2023/2411, the defendant and the appellant and the competent authorities or the single points of contact of the Member State where the appellant and the defendant reside or are established, shall be notified through the digital system, of such consultation. The Board of Appeal, together with the notification of such consultation, shall provide them with a verified machine translation into the relevant official Union language of the respective Member States. 5. The Board of Appeal shall notify the defendant and the appellant and the competent authorities or the single points of contact of the Member State where the appellant and the defendant reside or are established, through the digital system, of the opinion of the Advisory Board. The Board of Appeal, together with the opinion of the Advisory Board, shall provide them with a verified machine translation into the relevant official Union language of the respective Member States. 6. In case the appellant or the defendant resides or is established in a third country, the Board of Appeal shall notify the information about the consultations and the opinion of the Advisory Board to the appellant and to the defendant or to the competent authorities of the third country, as applicable, together with verified machine translations, into the official Union language in which the notice of appeal was filed by the appellant or in which the response was filed by the defendant. In case the defendant did not file a response, translations will be provided in the language in which the first procedural step in the relevant proceedings before the Office was filed by the defendant.