Brussels, 21/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 19 March, the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, wrote to ICANN to express his “grave concerns” over the consequences of the domain names “.vin” and “.wine” on the rights holders, consumers and producers of European wines, if geographical indications (GIs) are not properly protected. “The European Parliament (…) advocates for an efficient and greater protection of these products in all forums. Our institution firmly believes that GIs are one of Europe's greatest assets and as such must be safeguarded”, Schulz wrote. “If these discussions do not bear fruit, the European Parliament will give its full backing to the European Commission and its member states in calling for the rejection of '.vin' and '.wine'”,.Schulz concluded. Readers may recall that ICANN has opened a procedure allowing new domain names to be allocated, including “.vin” and “.wine”. The Europeans categorically oppose a decision which, unless safeguards are set in place, would allow companies to sell products with names that resemble those of products with geographical indications, but that would be just pale imitations with no gauge of quality (see EUROPE 11012). ICANN will take its decision at a meeting to be held in Singapore 23-27 March. (IL)