Brussels, 26/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - Conclusion of a “satisfactory agreement” on the allocation of .vin and .wine domain names has been hailed by several European commissioners.
The Commission and wine producers across Europe and worldwide have long fought to protect their sector's geographical indications on the internet. Commission Vice-President with responsibility for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip, along with Digital Economy and Society Commissioner Günther Oettinger and Phil Hogan, agriculture commissioner, quietly welcomed the agreement on Twitter.
To acquire these domain names, US company Donuts signed a private agreement with the European and global wine-making sectors and a delegation contract with ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the global network regulator.
The agreement on .vin and .wine, the contents of which remain confidential, will mean that it will be possible to “address cybersquatting, confusion and counterfeiting”, said Pascal Bobillier-Monnot, director of the Confédération nationale française des producteurs de vins et eaux-de-vie de vin à appellations d'origine contrôlées (CNAOC), which can only be good for the continued strong growth in online wine sales. These are expected to be worth €6 billion worldwide by 2016. For example, 30% of consumers in China buy their wine online. With guarantees having been obtained for the use of these domain names, the European Commission and the global wine sector have ended the opposition proceedings (“collaborative engagement process”) they had brought against ICANN.
Specific protection for geographical indications. In January of this year, Commissioner Oettinger said, in response to a written Parliamentary question that, after four months of negotiations as part of the collaborative engagement process, global wine sector organisations had, with the support of the Commission, provided ICANN with a list of the geographical indications across the globe, including those EU indications, which feature on the e-Bacchus list, so that they may be provided with specific protection. ICANN, an independent organisation but under American supervision, held its 53rd conference in Buenos Aires from 21 to 25 June. As of 2016, it will become an international association where governments will have far greater input than today. (Lionel Changeur)