Luxembourg, 28/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Court of First Instance has rejected as inadmissible he appeal of a French cider manufacturer, Pampryl, which was calling for the annulment of the registration of a Community name of origin. Pampryl manufactures over a million bottles of cider a year under the name "Pays d'Auge". This name was registered by the European Commission in 1999. Yet Pampryl no longer met the conditions to use this name. For the manufacturer, the reason for its exclusion was the obligation to use an "extremely restrictive" manufacturing procedure.
The manufacturer considered that it met the conditions to make its appeal: its volume of production had placed it in a strong position in relation to other producers in the region whose annual production is said to be but 400,000 bottles; it would thus be "individually concerned" by the Commission's regulation registering the name "Pays d' Auge/Pays d'Auge-Cambremer" and could thus call for its annulment before the Court.
"The fact that (Pampryl) has a large share of the market in question is not enough in itself to characterize it in relation to all other economic operators concerned by the regulation under attack", declares the Court for which the French manufacturer cannot be considered as being "individually concerned" (one of the essential conditions to dispute a European regulation before the Court of First Instance; see EUROPE of 24 February 20000, p.12). The Court also states that the rights of any possible opponents are limited in this field. They cannot be compared with those, more extended, that companies or individuals have who oppose Commission decisions in anti-dumping procedures or regarding State aid.