On the initiative of MEP Irène Tolleret (Renew Europe, France), 57 members of the European Parliament asked the European Commission on Monday 12 July to take “diplomatic action” to ensure that Russia changes the new law that prevents French Champagne producers from using the name in Cyrillic “as soon as possible”.
The Russian decision, which affects not only Champagne but all geographical indications (GIs) of wines and spirits on the Russian market, prohibits European producers from indicating the translation of the names of the appellations in Russian and from listing it on the back label.
“Although the full content of the new legislation is still under review, this would appear to be the most significant infringement of European beverage IP orchestrated by a third country”, say MEPs.
“This is another dramatic attack on GIs, who are desperately trying to defend their specificities. In order to continue exporting to the Russian market, producers will have no choice but to comply with the new law in order to avoid being accused of counterfeiting”, explains Ms Tolleret, who is co-chair of the European Parliament’s ‘Wine, spirits and quality products’ intergroup.
MEPs call on the Commission to promote “the negotiation of a mutual recognition agreement guaranteeing the full protection of European quality food products on the Russian market” over the longer term and to strengthen the protection and promotion of all GIs in third countries.
In the letter, the signatories argue that Vladimir Putin’s decision “undermines the EU’s efforts to ensure the protection of its quality system and may confuse consumers while hampering the brand positioning of European wines and spirits in that country”.
Link to the letter: https://bit.ly/3r6LpFm (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)