The European Commission adopted two proposals on Wednesday 24 August on the agreement reached almost a year ago with Iceland on geographical indications. The texts have to be approved by the Council of the EU before the agreement can come into force.
On 17 September 2015, the Commission and Iceland initialled two agreements on the further liberalisation of trade in agricultural products and foodstuffs and one on the protection of geographical indications (EUROPE 11392).
Under the terms of the agreement reached on geographical indications the whole list of the EU’s 1,150 protected agricultural products and foodstuffs will enjoy the same level of protection in Iceland as in the EU market. Annex II contains the European Union agricultural products and foodstuffs other than wines, aromatised wine products and spirits originating in the Parties' territories that will be protected in Iceland. Iceland has yet to register any protected geographical indications. The agreement makes provision, however, for a mechanism to be put in place so that the list of geographical indications can be updated and new geographical indications included. Putting in place this mechanism will be one of the tasks of a joint committee.
On Wednesday, the Commission adopted: - a proposal for a decision on the signing on behalf of the EU of the EU-Iceland agreement on the protection of geographical indications for agricultural products and foodstuffs; - a proposal for a decision on the conclusion of this agreement between the EU and Iceland.
The agreement sets out the requirements for the registration and checking of geographical indications: - a register listing geographical indications protected in the territory; - an administrative process verifying the geographical indications; - control provisions applying to production; - a right for any producer established in the area who submits to the system of controls to produce the product labelled with the protected name if that producer complies with the product specification; - an objection procedure that allows the legitimate interests of prior users of names to be taken into account, whether those names are protected as a form of intellectual property or not; - a rule that protected names may not become generic; - provisions on the registration, which may include refusal of registration, of terms homonymous or partly homonymous with registered terms, terms customary in common language as the common name for goods, terms comprising or including the names of plant varieties and animal breeds.
The Council authorised the Commission in June 2007 to open negotiations with Iceland with a view to the conclusion of an agreement on the protection of geographical indications for agricultural products and foodstuffs. Both parties agree to promote harmonious development of geographical indications as defined in Article 22 (1) of the trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) agreement and to encourage trade in agricultural products and foodstuffs which bear a geographical indication originating in the parties’ territories. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)