On Wednesday 13 April, the European Commission presented for the first time a draft regulation with the aim of protecting the intellectual property of craft and industrial products in the same way as agricultural products.
The aim of this proposal, which was foreseen in the proposed November 2020 IP Action Plan (see EUROPE 12609/11), is both economic and social, according to European Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager and Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton.
According to Mrs Vestager, many European regions have “untapped” employment and growth potential in the craft industry. However, many SMEs have developed manufacturing skills over generations that are under threat, she explained, as these companies are unable to expand their operations across borders due to a lack of resources and incentives.
“The protection granted by geographical indications for craft and industrial products will encourage both regions and producers in their competition at a continental and global level”, she predicted.
Today’s proposal is inspired by the system of geographical indications for agricultural products or wines and spirits. It should eventually cover between 300 and 800 products in all sectors, according to a European Commission source. It will primarily involve productions from Western and Southern Europe as well as from some Eastern Member States.
The regulation thus aims to establish an EU-wide protection of geographical indications for craft and industrial products to help the producers concerned to protect their intellectual property rights on their products in the internal market and to fight against counterfeiting, especially online. This system will also aim to provide a European protective framework for a situation that remains fragmented between Member States.
Registration of applications is intended to be “simple” and “inexpensive”, the European Commission says. Firstly, producers will be invited to file their applications with the national competent authorities, which will in turn submit the applications for approval to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). It should be noted that Member States without a national procedure will be able to file their applications directly with the EUIPO.
Today, there are 16 Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain) where national systems of relative geographical indications are in place, already functioning, and are not expected to incur additional costs in terms of administration. The European Commission estimates the costs of registration at national level at an average of about €7,500.
Following the example of the geographical indication system for agricultural products, producers of craft and industrial products will be able to advertise the protected geographical indication using the same logo on the product’s label.
The proposal includes an international component and is based on the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which currently includes 38 States as members. According to one source, in the case of a dispute with a company headquartered in a non-Geneva Act country, the matter will be settled according to the provisions of the bilateral agreement.
Finally, the proposal seeks to encourage producers and SMEs to “invest in new products” and “authentic” products in the hope of creating “niche” markets.
Criteria
The European Commission has thus established three main criteria to allow certain products to benefit from geographical indication protection: - first, it must be proven that the product originates from a specific place, region or country; - the product must have a quality, reputation or characteristic that is essentially attributable to its geographical origin; - at least one stage of its production must be carried out in the defined geographical area.
EUIPO to the rescue
The European Commission has been responsible for drafting the regulation, but its implementation will be carried out by the EUIPO, based in Alicante. The Office already has expertise in the management of agricultural geographical indications.
However, as one source explained, the Office’s budget will not be increased, as it has had a significant surplus of between €40 and €60 million for several years from the registration of EU trademarks, it was confirmed. The Office registers 200,000 trademarks every year that have to be renewed every 10 years, which represents a significant financial windfall.
This leeway has helped to break the deadlock in the corridors of the European Commission, as the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Internal Market and Industry (DG GROW) has little room to manoeuvre on this issue.
In addition, the Office offers the registration fee at European level (which does not exempt from national fees), the number of 300 registrations being anecdotal compared to the 300,000 annual registrations.
A request from the French Presidency of the EU Council
The presentation of the initiative has been brought forward from the original timetable of the European College of Commissioners. According to two sources, the reason is the French Presidency of the EU Council. The latter would have insisted on launching the discussions as soon as possible in order to maximise the chances of reaching an agreement before the end of the current European Commission’s mandate. The Czech Presidency is also in favour of the dossier, as is the Swedish Presidency, we were told.
To access the proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/197 (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)