On Wednesday 20 March, the Member States' ambassadors to the European Union (Coreper) approved the agreement reached a few days earlier between the EU Council and the European Parliament on the rules governing the functioning of the Union as a member of the Geneva Act.
The Geneva Act is a new multilateral treaty for the protection of geographical indications managed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The Geneva Act modernises the 1958 Lisbon Agreement on the Protection of Appellations of Origin and allows international organisations, such as the EU, to become members (see EUROPE 12214/29).
The Lisbon Agreement, which currently has 28 members, including seven EU countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia), provides a means of ensuring the protection of appellations of origin through a single registration.
The Regulation on the conditions of this accession must now be formally adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. The Union will then be ready to formally accede to the Geneva Act by means of a separate decision. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)