Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture criticised, on Thursday 31 March, certain elements of the proposed regulation reforming the geographical indications system.
MEPs were particularly unhappy about the plan to transfer the tasks of managing the specifications for quality products from the European Commission (DG AGRI) to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
The Commission hopes that the EU Council and the European Parliament will agree on this reform by the end of 2023.
As announced (see EUROPE 12920/9), the European Commission adopted, on Thursday a proposal (https://aeur.eu/f/11x ) to revise the system of geographical indications (GIs) for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products. The new measures should increase the uptake of GIs across the Union to benefit the rural economy and achieve a higher level of protection, especially online, according to the Commission.
The following measures are proposed:
- shortened and simplified registration procedure: the different technical and procedural rules for geographical indications will be merged, resulting in a single, simplified GI registration procedure for EU and third country applicants. As this harmonisation will result in a shorter time between the submission of the application and the registration, it is expected to increase the attractiveness of the schemes for producers;
- increased online protection: the new framework will increase the protection of GIs on the internet, namely as regards sales via online platforms and the protection against bad faith registration and use of GIs in the domain name system;
- more sustainability: as a direct follow up of the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy, it will be possible for producers (on a voluntary and non-mandatory basis) to valorise their actions regarding social, environmental or economic sustainability in their product specifications. This will contribute to better protecting natural resources and rural economies, securing local plant varieties and animal breeds, conserving the landscape of the production area and improving animal welfare (the idea is also to appeal to consumers who want to reduce their environmental impact);
- empowered producers’ groups: Member States will have to recognise GI producers’ groups at their request. Recognised groups will be empowered to manage, enforce and develop their GIs, notably by having access to anti-counterfeiting authorities and customs in all Member States.
The proposal also re-conducts the quality scheme for traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG) and the use of the term ‘mountain product’ as an optional quality term.
Concerns at the European Parliament. The aim of involving the EUIPO more is to process applications as quickly as possible, argued a Commission representative. The final decision on the protection of GIs will rest with the Commission.
Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy), the Parliament’s rapporteur on this dossier, fully supports the Commission’s objective of “strengthening the protection and widening the distribution of these premium products. The PDO economy represents €75 billion at European level. However, he is concerned about some of the proposed articles which could lead to: - a weakening of the role of consortia (producer groups); - a relaxation of the evocation ban, contrary to what has been stated by the Court of Justice of the EU; - an “excessive” delegation to the EUIPO of the responsibility for the analysis and evaluation of product characteristics.
Unlike other MEPs, including Irène Tolleret (Renew Europe, France), Anne Sander (EPP, France), and Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, Germany), who fear an administrative nightmare, Clara Aguilera (S&D, Spain) said she was not necessarily against delegating competences to the EUIPO, as long as the effects were known. DG AGRI has sufficient knowledge to carry out this evaluation work, according to the MEPs.
EU’s ‘stop’ to fake ‘Bolgheri’ wine. The EU’s “stop” to the “fake Bolgheri wine produced in Bulgaria sets an important precedent for the protection of Made in Italy designations, starting with the battle to prevent the recognition of Croatian Prosek”, said the president of Coldiretti, Ettore Prandini. The EUIPO accepted Italy’s arguments for the protection of Bolgheri and Bolgheri Sassicaia wines in the dispute with a Bulgarian producer, who applied in 2017 for the registration of the trademark ‘Bolgaré’. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)