The ministers of the EU Member States unanimously adopted their position (‘general approach’) on geographical indications for industrial and craft products on Thursday 1 December at the ‘Competitiveness’ Council. However, most of the Member States that spoke hoped for improvements during the inter-institutional negotiations with the European Parliament.
“This regulation will ensure the quality and authenticity of products sold in the EU”, said Jozef Síkela, Czech minister of industry and trade, citing Bohemian glass as an example.
Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton, while welcoming the political agreement, expressed some concerns, notably about the administrative burdens introduced and the registration system proposed by the EU Council. He indicated that the Commission will keep a particularly close eye on the effectiveness of the text.
All Member States that took the floor welcomed the work done by the French and Czech rotating Presidencies and the balanced text reached today (see EUROPE 13064/13). Many Member States, such as Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece and Germany, noted during their speeches that they had been waiting for this proposal for a long time.
All stressed the importance of this text to protect traditional production and maintain economic activities in rural and less developed regions, but also to protect consumers. Furthermore, several delegations stressed that providing the EU with a regulatory framework on this issue will enable the Commission to better protect European GIs on the international scene, in line with the Lisbon arrangements and the Geneva Act.
However, a large majority of ministers expressed their regret on several points, notably France, which regretted a reduction in the protective framework for domain names. Italy shared this view and pointed to the two-step registration mechanism (at national and European level).
Denmark confirmed its general scepticism about the added value of a European regulatory framework. The country hopes to have a general derogation on the establishment of a national registration system. The Netherlands, for its part, has indicated that it wants to strengthen the legal certainty of Member States for those who want to register directly with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
Thus, many expect rebalancing during the inter-institutional negotiations with the European Parliament. The latter institution is expected to adopt its position in the Committee on Legal Affairs in February 2023. Sweden, as the next EU Council Presidency, has assured that it will be fully engaged in the inter-institutional negotiations with the European Parliament. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)