On Tuesday 26 March, the EU Council formally and unanimously adopted the regulation improving the protection of geographical indications and other quality systems for wines, spirit drinks and agricultural products, both online and offline.
The text provides for a strengthened role for producer groups by giving them the powers and responsibilities they need to manage their geographical indications, including representing their members in intellectual property enforcement networks (see EUROPE 13360/14).
There is also provision for greater protection of geographical indications, including online, in domain names that contain geographical indications, via geo-blocking. To this end, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has been entrusted to set up a domain name information and alert system. The text provides increased protection for a GI designating an ingredient when the geographical indication of that ingredient is used in the name of a related processed food. In those cases, recognised producer groups will have to be notified and the percentage of the ingredient will need to be indicated. The regulation will soon be signed and published in the Official Journal of the EU. It will come into force on the twentieth day following its publication.
Link to text: https://aeur.eu/f/bif (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)