Regulation (EU) 2023/2411 on the protection of geographical indications for craft and industrial products

What it is

to provide a common legal framework for geographical indication (GI) protection for craft and industrial products. PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council. BACKGROUND: for many years, geographical indication protection has been established at EU level for wines, spirit drinks, aromatised wines, as defined at EU level, and for agricultural products and foodstuffs, as protected at EU level. However, at present there is no EU-wide mechanism to protect the names of non-agricultural products such as natural stones, jewellery, textiles, lace, cutlery, glass and porcelain. The Committee on Legal Affairs adopted the report by Marion WALSMANN (EPP, DE) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on geographical indication protection for craft and industrial products and amending Regulations (EU) 2017/1001 and (EU) 2019/1753 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Decision (EU) 2019/1754. The committee responsible recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the proposal as follows: This Regulation creates unitary and exclusive protection for the geographical indication of craft and industrial products, ensuring the following: - necessary powers and responsibilities for the producers acting collectively to manage their geographical indication, including to respond to societal demands for products resulting from sustainable production; - reliable information and a guarantee of authenticity of such products for the consumer; - simple and efficient registration of geographical indications, taking into account the appropriate protection of intellectual property rights; - effective enforcement and marketing throughout the Union and in electronic commerce , ensuring the integrity of the internal market; - local economic development, which guarantees the protection of knowhow and of common heritage. Members clarified the definition of ‘geographical indication’ to mean an indication consisting of or containing the name of a geographical area, or another indication known as referring to such area, which identifies a good as originating in that geographical area, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin. The report also includes the definition of ‘national specific protection for geographical indications for craft and industrial products’ to mean an intellectual property title under national, regional or local law specifically protecting names that identify craft and industrial products with a given quality, reputation or other characteristics linked to their geographical origin, with the exception of trade marks. On the other hand, the report deleted the definition of ‘combined nomenclature’ as Members considered this to be unclear. Members considered that the registration procedure should comprise two stages: (i) the first stage should take…

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