Brussels, 07/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - In a press release published on Saturday 5 April, the European Commission welcomed the decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN) new generic top-level domain (gTLD) program committee (NGPC) on 4 April to put on hold for a further 60 days the applications for .wine and .vin domain names.
The European Commission also welcomes the fact that ICANN is encouraging stakeholders to negotiate.
The Commission said that ICANN's decision to postpone a decision on the applications for .wine and .vin “should allow rights holders of geographical indications and the wine industry to successfully conclude on the matter with the applicants for the new generic Top-Level Domain names '.vin' and '.wine'”. It is encouraging the stakeholders to negotiate, without delay, in an effort to find an acceptable solution, so that those responsible for managing domain names agree to introduce provisions that respect geographical indications for wine. The Commission said that it would continue to monitor this situation closely to ensure that the matter is resolved satisfactorily.
It concluded that, “if ICANN wants to demonstrate that the multi-stakeholder approach to Internet Governance can work for all, its decisions have to protect the common good and not simply favour purely commercial decisions or the highest bidders”.
In a statement published on 2 April, Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos personally stepped in and said that granting the .vin and .wine domain names without sufficient protection of geographical indications was “quite simply unacceptable” (see EUROPE 11054).
European wine producers intend to appeal
The European Federation of Original Wines (EFOW) expressed their “scepticism” and “fear an unconditional delegation of the .wine and .vin”.
European wine producers intend to appeal against ICANN and are threatening to “organise a boycott and request the blocking of sides that do not comply with the EU legal framework”.
EFOW President Riccardo Ricci Curbastro stated: “We have said all along that we will support and promote the '.wine' and '.vin' if they protect our GI names and if their indiscriminate use is prevented. We have made great efforts to encourage candidate companies to engage with us. We have realised that they are under pressure to prevent an agreement to be reached. We will redouble our efforts to find a solution but we will also get organised in the prospect of an unconditional delegation”. (IL, LC)