As a consequence of years of discussion between technicians and politicians and various trilogues of the EU institutions, the new Regulation was approved on February 28th by the European Parliament in plenary session and formally adopted by the European Council on March 26th; following its publication in the OJEU on April 23rd, 2024, the regulation entered into force starting from May 13th, 2024, with the exception of some provisions , which will come into force from January 1st, 2025.
Thanks to this new regulation, the regulatory provisions concerning geographical indications (GI) for wines, spirits and agricultural products, which were previously divided into three different regulations, are now brought together in a single document; the reform aims to create a unitary and exhaustive system of geographical indications that should “contribute significantly to increased awareness, recognition and consumer understanding, both in the Union and in third countries, of the symbols, indications and abbreviations demonstrating participation in Union quality schemes and their added value.” (cf. recital 20 of the Regulation).
Below are some of the innovations introduced by the new Regulation:
- Strengthening of the role of producer groups
The Regulation allows access to producer groups (i.e. protection consortiums and similar groups) exclusively to producers of products designated by a GI; moreover, Member States may decide that operators carrying out economic activities connected to one of the phases of the food supply chain for GI products may be members of a producer group.
The producer groups are entrusted with greater powers and responsibilities, including the possibility of taking actions aimed at guaranteeing the protection of the geographical indication and the intellectual property rights directly linked to it, among which legal and customs actions.
They will also be able to contribute to the development of tourist services in the geographical area of reference of the GI (so-called PDO Tourism) and agree on sustainable practices to be respected in the production or in the progress of other activities subject to one or more obligations set out in the specifications or separately.
- Strengthened and expanded protection of Geographical Indications
The Regulation extends the ex-officio protection of GIs to domain names; in particular, the competent national authorities will be able to take measures aimed at removing domain names accessible in the EU that illegally use GIs or disabling access to them from the territory of the Member State concerned. Furthermore, EU top-level domain name registries will have to include GIs among the rights that can be invoked in alternative dispute resolution procedures relating to domain names.
The Commission may also entrust the EUIPO to establish and manage a domain name information and alert system.
With the new regulation, the protection of GIs as ingredients is strengthened; in the case of a processed product, it will be possible to indicate the geographical indication in the name, label or advertising material only if: a) the processed product does not contain any other product comparable to the ingredient designated by the GI; b) the ingredient in question is used in sufficient quantities to confer an essential characteristic on the processed product; c) the percentage of the ingredient designated by the GI is indicated on the label. When recognised producer groups exist, they must be informed of the use of the GI by the producers of a prepacked food, who will have to wait for an acknowledgment of receipt in which the group can include indications on the correct use of the GI.
Additionally, the Regulation provides for an amendment to Regulation (EU) no. 1308/2013, i.e., the insertion of the new article 113 bis, which entails the prohibition of registration of traditional terms of wines whose use would lead to a violation of the scope of protection of GIs (cf. Prošek – Croatian traditional term / Prosecco case).
- Simplification of the procedures for registering GIs and modifying the specifications
The Regulation confirms the exclusive competence of the European Commission for the management of the Geographical Indications system and the Union phase of the registration procedure, thus assigning the EUIPO technical and consultative support in relation to administrative issues only. Furthermore, the EUIPO will be responsible for maintaining and updating the GI register.
The Regulation also reduces the time for examining the request for registration of a GI to 6 months, extendable by further 5 months if the request needs to be integrated because it is incomplete.
With reference to changes to the specifications, only those possibly leading to restrictions of competition in the single market will have to be examined by the Commission; all other changes will be managed exclusively at national level in order to avoid a double step and, therefore, an unnecessary slowdown of the modification procedure.
- Sustainability
As previously indicated, the Regulation provides the possibility for producer groups, on a voluntary basis, to prepare a sustainability report, which indicates the practices they carry out in terms of environmental, economic, social sustainability and respect for the animal welfare.
Compared to the initial proposal, the delegation to the Commission to subsequently define the “sustainability commitments” was eliminated, as, according to sector operators, it could have led to the imposition of excessively burdensome standards for operators, without considering the specificities of the individual supply chains.
Our expert Trademark Attorneys are available to provide you with further information and assistance regarding the protection of Geographical Indications in the European Union and abroad.
