The European Parliament and the Council yesterday reached an agreement on the reform of the geographical indications system for wines, spirits and agri-food products.
The new regulation will increase the diffusion of geographical indications in the Union, providing a higher level of protection, especially online. This will help to further raise the bar for EU food quality and standards, ensuring that our cultural, gastronomic and local heritage is preserved and certified as authentic in the EU and around the world.
“We promised it: from 2024 our farmers and producers will be able to count on a new single European law on quality production, with ambitious measures, in the sole interest of our excellent production chains.” Thus Paolo De Castro, rapporteur of the European Parliament for the new EU regulation on PDO and PGI products, comments on the agreement reached this afternoon with the negotiators of the Council (the Spanish Minister Luis Planas, rotating president of the AGRIFISH Council) and the Commission (Commissioner Janusz Wojcechowski).
Thanks to Parliament's strong negotiating mandate, claims De Castro, "the new regulation, which will come into force in the first months of 2024 after the formal passages in Parliament and Council, will evolve a system without equal in the world, capable of generating value without investing any public funds."
The details
The new regulation on EU geographical indications for wines, spirits and agricultural products will strengthen and improve the current system:
introducing a single legal framework and shortened and simplified registration procedures : the different rules on procedures and protection of geographical indications for the three sectors (food, wines and spirits) are brought together in a single simplified registration procedure for applicants of the EU and third countries. The more linear legal framework, with shorter registration times, should increase the attractiveness of the schemes for producers, especially in countries with fewer geographical indications;
increasing the protection of geographical indications used as ingredients and sold online : the new provisions will increase the protection of geographical indications used as ingredients in processed products and geographical indication products sold online. The new regulation will protect the names of geographical indications also in the domain name system , obliging member states to block on their territory the names of domains that could conflict with the geographical indication;
recognizing sustainable practices : producers will be able to valorize actions related to environmental, economic or social sustainability, including animal welfare . The text agreed by the co-legislators provides a non-exhaustive list of sustainable practices to incentivize producers. This will help to better protect natural resources and rural economies, guarantee local plant varieties and animal breeds, preserve the landscape of the production area and improve animal welfare. Producer associations may decide to make certain sustainable practices mandatory for their products , which, in this case, must be included in the production specifications. Furthermore, producers will be able to draw up, on a voluntary basis, a sustainability report which will be published by the European Commission;
Giving more powers to producer associations : the new measures will establish a voluntary system of recognized producer associations of geographical indications, to be established by Member States. To increase the attractiveness of the system, associations will be empowered to manage, apply and develop their own geographical indications to strengthen their position in the value chain.
The enforcement of geographical indications remains the responsibility of the Member States and includes monitoring the correct use of registered terms and fighting fraud in the production, sale and use of geographical indications. Registration, modification and cancellation of all registrations will continue to be the responsibility of the Commission.
Next steps
Once both Parliament and the Council have formally adopted the rules, they will be published in the Official Journal of the EU and will enter into force 20 days later . (Source: https://www.ruminantia.it/ )