30/08/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Court of First Instance declared that the complaint submitted by Switzerland at the end of 2002 on behalf of wine producers in the Champagne region in the Vaud Canto, was inadmissible. The producers want to use the denomination “Champagne” for the white wine they use. Swiss producers argued that production of this white wine did not compete with French Champagne and appropriate labelling would be enough to dissipate any confusion on behalf of consumers (EUROPE 8315). Not giving up the fight, the Swiss producers said that they would now go to international law governing registration of homonym denominations. This case was one of the elements in negotiations at the end of the 1990s involving bilateral agreements between the EU and Switzerland (EUROPE 7360). Switzerland finally accepted that in exchange for opening up European skies to Swissair, the use of the “Champagne” label for Swiss wine producers would be banned. (mb)