The European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture hopes to vote, during an extraordinary meeting in Strasbourg on 20 April, on the draft report by Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italian) on geographical indications for agricultural products.
The rapporteur said, during a meeting of the Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture on Wednesday 22 March, that 46 compromise amendments had been negotiated between the political groups.
A meeting between Mr De Castro and the shadow rapporteurs of the different political groups will take place on 28 March to try to finalise the drafting of the compromises (see EUROPE 13112/12).
On the role of the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), Mr de Castro referred to an agreement between the political groups against the delegation of powers planned by the European Commission.
The European Commission would thus retain all tasks related to the examination and validation of applications for registration of GIs and other procedures of instruction, such as amendments. Mr De Castro made it clear that the compromise “cancels” the delegation of powers to the EUIPO that the Commission wanted through delegated acts. The Commission, in its proposal, wants to give responsibilities to the EUIPO.
As regards wines, the Commission has proposed to include them, together with spirits, in the horizontal GI Regulation. However, many MEPs (EPP, Renew Europe, ECR) are calling for GI wines to continue to be regulated under the provisions of the Common Market Organisation (CMO). On this point, debates are reportedly still ongoing among MEPs. The rapporteur is leaning towards supporting the Commission’s proposal.
Regarding the new chapter on sustainability, an agreement has been reached on the possibility (i.e. optional) for producer groups to introduce new terms of reference in the specifications and to report on the progress made in this respect.
At the EU Council level, negotiations are continuing, with the EUIPO’s powers being one of the issues. On the question of producer groups, some southern European Member States want to avoid rules that would prejudice procedures in countries where GIs are already highly developed.
Link to the latest drafting suggestions from the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council: https://aeur.eu/f/5yr (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)