On Monday 10 November, the European Commission adopted a report confirming the need to create an EU-level domain name information and alert system for geographical indications (GIs).
However, the report is not yet accompanied by a legislative proposal.
Regulation 2024/1143 of 11 April 2024, which deals with geographical indications and traditional specialities guaranteed, asked the Commission to publish this report, which would be accompanied, where appropriate, by a legislative proposal.
The analysis confirms: that the misuse of geographical indications in domain names, although under-reported and therefore difficult to quantify, is a real and growing risk to the economic value and reputation of products covered by a GI; and that setting up an EU-level domain name information and alert system for GIs is both necessary and technically feasible.
Such a system would provide GI producers with a tool to prevent ‘cybersquatting’ and help protect the reputation and economic value of GI-covered products in the online environment.
In the Commission’s view, the most appropriate model would be a system managed by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), based on publicly accessible standard DNS (Domain Name System) tools and the voluntary cooperation of ccTLD (Country-Code Top-Level Domain) registries.
This approach avoids requiring registries to adapt their infrastructure or share personal data, according to the report.
Any step towards a legislative proposal will be examined in conjunction with: the conclusions of the Commission’s separate craft and industrial GIs analysis, due on 2 June 2026; and further technical consultations and pilot projects with the EUIPO, the European Registry for Internet Domains (EURid) and ccTLD registries established in the EU “to test practical arrangements and ensure that any future system is proportionate and workable”.
In addition, on 6 November the Commission published a new guide (https://aeur.eu/f/jcx ) providing European producers and producer groups with clear guidance on how to register the names of their agri-food products under EU quality schemes.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/jcw (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)