the scope of the concept of legitimate interest. In light of the described procedure, legitimate interest is the prerequisite that allows opposition proceedings to be initiated. The subject of these proceedings will, however, be one of the grounds indicated by the European legislator. Nevertheless, the mere recognition of standing to sue can never guarantee that the application will be upheld, since different prerequisites apply. If the objective is therefore to take into account the subjective legal situation of the third party, this objective is clearly incompatible with a restrictive notion of legitimate interest. On the contrary, only a broad notion can encourage compliance with a high level of quality and specific food production methods. In the absence of regulatory provisions, the interpretative solution proposed by the CJEU case law is to be welcomed, as it broadens standing to bring proceedings, not limiting it to domestic operators alone. On the other hand, amending the specifications would have an impact not only within the PDO and PGI territory, but also across the entire food market. This could potentially conflict with the interests of competing operators and affect consumer choice. All of these are values protected by European treaties. However, the system has some critical issues. If the meaning of ‘legitimate interest’ is broadly interpreted, the number of parties entitled to lodge an objection could be indeterminate. While this aspect is valuable in the concerted procedure for registering PDOs or PGIs, it could also lead to numerous instrumental oppositions aimed not only at avoiding potential damage, but also at obstructing the competitor’s application, with the result that opponents will not be willing to reach an agreement and the procedures could suffer significant delays and slowdowns, with the final decision being left to the Commission. Therefore, while it is true that the assessment of the existence of a legitimate interest must be made on a case-by-case basis, where this discretion is not exercised, it cannot be ruled out that the opposition is being abused, exercised solely for specious reasons. This critical issue, in the author’s opinion, represents a still unresolved issue. 406 STEFANIA PEDRABISSI
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