Green Paper on extending geographical indication protection to non-agricultural products
Opinion factsheet
På denne side
- Agriculture, Maritime and Consumer policies
- Consumer policy
- Enterprise and Industry
- Internal market
Opinion number:
CDR-5386-2014
Status:
Vedtaget
Objective
To draw atttention to the fact that Europe's regions are extremely rich in non-agricultural products based on traditional know-how (often kept alive by small companies and micro-enterprises) and that properly improving the status of these products and protecting them could help EU local and regional development, especially in economic and social terms, while also curbing the deplorable phenomena of counterfeit and imitation goods;
To underline that geographical indication (GI) protection standards must be respected in the ambit of the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which apply to all members of the World Trade Organisation;
To promote the creation of a single EU system for non-agricultural GI protection
To ensure that the registration procedure for non-agricultural GIs is mandatory and should be based on a two-stage system (as is currently the case for agricultural GIs) that involves the regional level in verifying local specificities and the European level in verifying the shared EU criteria.
To underline that geographical indication (GI) protection standards must be respected in the ambit of the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which apply to all members of the World Trade Organisation;
To promote the creation of a single EU system for non-agricultural GI protection
To ensure that the registration procedure for non-agricultural GIs is mandatory and should be based on a two-stage system (as is currently the case for agricultural GIs) that involves the regional level in verifying local specificities and the European level in verifying the shared EU criteria.
Impact
Both the CoR and the European Commission have been positive to extending GI protection to non-agricultural products at EU-level to harmonise the fragmented system of laws that exist at national level. The European Commission is, however, still exploring the details of this possibility.
There is currently no EU-wide GI protection for non-agricultural goods, but some EU countries have regional or national regulations on specific crafts (e.g. ceramics), specific laws on a certain product (e.g. Solingen knives), or regional or national laws that protect all non-agricultural GI products (e.g. in France).
This results in varying levels of legal protection across Europe. Non-agricultural producers who wish to protect a GI in the EU need to file for protection in each country where it is available, or rely on other tools such as trade mark protection, litigation, or action via administrative authorities in case of unfair commercial practice or consumer deception.
On 30 November 2020, the Commission published an Inception Impact Assessment of an EU-wide system for protecting the geographical indications of non-agricultural products.
In the course of 2021 the ECON commission will draw up an own-initiative opinion on Protecting Industrial and Craft Geographical Indications in the European Union (rapporteur: Martine Pinville (FR/PES)).
Essential points
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
maintains that Europe's regions are extremely rich in non-agricultural products based on traditional know-how (often kept alive by small companies and micro-enterprises) and that properly improving the status of these products and protecting them could help EU local and regional development, especially in economic and social terms, while also curbing the deplorable phenomena of counterfeit and imitation goods;
agrees on the absolute necessity of making sure geographical indication (GI) protection standards are respected in the ambit of the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which apply to all members of the World Trade Organisation;
believes creating a single EU system for non-agricultural GI protection is preferable to taking the route of harmonising national rules, since it would be fairer and guarantee the same timetables throughout the EU;
proposes that those Member States in which a non-agricultural GI protection system already exists should have a brief period (up to 2020, for example) in which transitional arrangements apply and the two systems should co-exist before a definitive move to a single EU mechanism;
thinks a registration procedure for non-agricultural GIs must be mandatory and should be based on a two-stage system (as is currently the case for agricultural GIs) that involves the regional level in verifying local specificities and the European level in verifying the shared EU criteria.