Last year, the European Commission adopted a proposal to review the geographical indications (GI) system for wine, spirits and agricultural products. The new measures aim to increase the use of SOEs across the Union for the benefit of the rural economy and to achieve a higher level of protection, especially online. The aim is to maintain high quality and standards in the EU and to ensure that our cultural, culinary and local heritage is preserved and certified as authentic within the EU and around the world.

Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski said: "GIs represent the richness and diversity of our European culinary heritage. With this proposal to strengthen and further harmonize our legal framework, we want to stimulate the production of traditional quality products. This will benefit rural economies across the Union and contribute to the preservation of local traditions and natural resources. It will further protect the reputation of EU food industry products globally."
The Commission proposes the following measures to strengthen and improve the existing system of geographical indications:

Shortened and simplified registration procedure: the various technical and procedural rules on GIs will be brought together, resulting in a single simplified GI registration procedure for EU and non-EU applicants. As this harmonization will shorten the time between application and registration, the schemes are expected to become more attractive to manufacturers.

Enhanced protection online: the new framework will increase the protection of CSOs on the Internet, in particular in relation to sales through online platforms, and the protection against fraudulent registration and use of CSOs in the domain name system.

More sustainability: manufacturers will be able to value their actions in terms of social, environmental or economic sustainability in their product specifications by specifying the relevant requirements. This will contribute to a better protection of natural resources and the economy of rural areas, to the preservation of local plant varieties, to the preservation of the landscape in the area of production.

Authorized producer groups: Member States will have to recognize producer groups of products with GO at their request. Recognized groups will be empowered to manage, implement and develop their GOs, in particular by having access to anti-counterfeiting authorities and customs in all Member States.

Geographical indications protect the names of products from certain regions and with specific characteristics, qualities or reputation against copying or fraud and certify that they have been produced to high standards in their region of origin.

An evaluation published in December 2021 shows that the existing framework is effective and provides clear added value for the EU. However, it identified some limitations, such as the low level of awareness and understanding of GIs by consumers in some Member States, as well as the low level of enforcement. It also emphasizes that environmental sustainability and animal welfare can be better integrated.

As part of the EU's intellectual property protection system, product names registered as GOs are legally protected against imitation, misuse and imitation within the EU and in non-EU countries where a specific protection agreement has been signed. The Geneva Act on Geographical Indications constitutes an additional multilateral framework for their protection.

Wine names are protected as Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indications (PGI), and spirits as Geographical Indications (GI).

According to the latest research on geographical indications, published in 2020, the commercial value of a product with a protected name is on average twice that of similar but non-certified products. In this study, the commercial value of products benefiting from the protection of geographical indications is estimated at €74.76 billion per year, with over a fifth of this amount accounted for by exports to countries outside the European Union.

The "Sea and Wine" project aims to raise awareness about the benefits of PDO and PGI registration, thereby increasing the competitiveness of wines from the Black Sea region.

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_22_2185