European Legislation on Protection of Geographical Indications Overview of the EU Member States' Legal Framework for Protection of Geographical Indications
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European legislation on protection of Geographical Indications Overview of the EU Member States' Legal Framework for Protection of Geographical Indications www.ipr2.org 1 Prepared February 2011 This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents are the sole responsibility of the IPR2 implementation team and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union nor other relevant authorities in Europe or China. Content may be reproduced and disseminated, as long as it is attributed to the original source. European Legislation on Protection of Geographical Indications Overview of the EU Member States’ Legal Framework for Protection of Geographical Indications Compiled by Irina Kireeva Translation revision by Wang Xiaobing 2 This publication takes the form of a summary overview for each EU Member State on the protection of Geographical Indications (GIs), including history of protection, the legal and regulatory framework, competent authorities involved, official controls and examples of prominent products. It is undertaken in the framework of the EU-China IPR2 Project. Since its launch in 2007, IPR2 has developed a series of capacity building activities on Geographical Indications (GIs) in China to support Chinese and European stakeholders with references on GI best practice and experience. IPR2 is a partnership project between the European Union and the People‟s Republic of China on the protection of intellectual property rights in China. This is done by providing technical support to, and building the capacity of the Chinese legislative, judicial and administrative authorities in administering and enforcing intellectual property rights; improving access to information for users and officials; as well as reinforcing support to right holders. IPR2 targets the reliability, efficiency and accessibility of the IP protection system, aiming at establishing a sustainable environment for effective IPR enforcement in China. For further information visit www.ipr2.org or contact [email protected]. 3 European Legislation on Protection of Geographical Indications Contents Contents European Union ............................................................................................................................................... 5 Austria ........................................................................................................................................................... 11 Belgium ......................................................................................................................................................... 14 Bulgaria ......................................................................................................................................................... 18 Cyprus............................................................................................................................................................ 22 Czech Republic ............................................................................................................................................... 24 Denmark ........................................................................................................................................................ 28 Estonia ........................................................................................................................................................... 31 Finland ........................................................................................................................................................... 35 France ............................................................................................................................................................ 38 Germany ........................................................................................................................................................ 44 Greece ........................................................................................................................................................... 49 Hungary ......................................................................................................................................................... 51 Ireland ........................................................................................................................................................... 54 Italy ............................................................................................................................................................... 56 Latvia ............................................................................................................................................................. 61 Lithuania ........................................................................................................................................................ 64 Luxembourg ................................................................................................................................................... 66 Malta ............................................................................................................................................................. 69 The Netherlands ............................................................................................................................................ 71 Poland ........................................................................................................................................................... 74 Portugal ......................................................................................................................................................... 77 Romania ........................................................................................................................................................ 80 Slovakia ......................................................................................................................................................... 83 Slovenia ......................................................................................................................................................... 86 Spain .............................................................................................................................................................. 89 Sweden .......................................................................................................................................................... 94 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ........................................................................... 96 Annex: Overview of EU legislation for Geographical Indications for wine ...................................................... 99 Legislation: EU and EU Member States ........................................................................................................ 109 4 European Legislation on Protection of Geographical Indications European Union European Union General background information The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC) formed by six countries in the 1950s, which are founding members of the EU: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands. The enlargement of the European Union was developing gradually with following countries signing the acceding treaties with the EEC: on 1 January 1973 – Ireland, the United Kingdom and Denmark; on 1 January 1981 – Greece; on 1 January 1986 – Spain and Portugal; on 1 January 1995 – Austria, Sweden and Finland; on 1 May 2004 - Malta, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary; 1 January 2007 – Bulgaria and Romania. The Maastricht Treaty established the European Union under its current name in 1993. The last amendment to the constitutional basis of the EU, the Treaty of Lisbon, came into force in 2009. EU Legal Framework for Protecting GIs for agricultural products and foodstuffs History of protection Before 1992 there was no common legal framework in the EU and different EC Member States had a diversity of national laws, sharing two basic principles: the protection of consumers from false and misleading information, and the protection of producers from unfair competition. These objectives were attained either through specific intellectual property rules protecting geographical indications or by general rules on unfair competition and consumer protection. The systematic legal protection of geographical indications was most fully developed in France, Italy and Spain. The need for a common European approach and specific legislation for protection of geographical indications became apparent almost immediately after the Cassis de Dijon judgment, which provided that products legally produced and marketed in one Member State 1 2 could be marketed in another. As a result, Council Regulation 2081/92 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs was adopted and became the first legal instrument to cover all agricultural products (with the 1 Case 120/78, Rewe Zentrale v Bundesmonopolverwaltung für Brantwein 1979 ECR 649, 3 CMLR 494, 1979. 2 Council Regulation 2081/92 of 14 July 1992 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural