Brussels, 03/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 3 June, the Organisation for an International Geographic Indications Network (oriGIn) and the Association of European Regions for Products of Origin (AREPO) welcomed the results obtained on geographical indications in 2012 and early 2013 in the European Union.
“Both the recently adopted Milk Package and Quality Package contain modern and effective rules for the sector. In that sense, in view of the critical issues to be discussed in the second part of 2013, such as the reform of the common agriculture policy and the reform of the Community trademark, customs enforcement of intellectual property rights and the new agricultural products promotion policy, oriGIn and AREPO encourage the European institutions to continue the excellent work done so far”, stated Ramon Gonzalez Figueroa, President of oriGIn.
The issues to be discussed in the second half of 2013 remain strategic for the sector of geographical indications. “We expect concrete results for the sector with respect to the option of managing production volumes for all geographical indications, the implementation of effective measures within the framework of rural development programmes, the establishment of a new promotion policy for agricultural products which would give geographical indications the means to deploy their full potential and the possibility to seize counterfeit geographical indications in transit in the EU”, concluded Tiberio Rabboni, president of AREPO.
oriGIn and AREPO went on to welcome the recent publication by the European Commission of a study on geographical indications for non-agricultural products, which clearly highlights the huge potential of the sector in Europe. Both organisations encourage the European institutions to work in the following years on the establishment of a sound community legal framework providing non-agriculture geographical indications with effective protection. (LC/transl.fl)