Geographical Indications for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products

Introductory words Unifab is very thankful for the opportunity given by the European Commission and especially DG AGRI to share its views and inputs regarding the revision of the EU geographical indications scheme. This revision is eagerly awaited for a large part of the French and European members of our association, that are particularly involved into the protection and promotion of geographical indications.

The Champagne Committee has taken note of the proposal for a regulation on geographical indications of the European Union for wines, spirit drinks and agricultural products published on 31 March and points to a number of points of interest for the protection of geographical indications.

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IRQUALIM, the Regional Institute for Food Quality in Occitanie, brings together all regional actors involved in a sector under Quality and Origin Identification Signs — SIQO- (PDO/AOC, PGI, Red Label, Biological Agriculture). The Occitanie region has 250 products under SIQO, the 1st organic region of France and the 1st world vineyard area for PDO and PGI wines.

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The European Confederation of Independent Winegrowers (CEVI) represents and defends the interests of the European Independent Winegrowers. They grow their own vine and produce themselves their wine, and in most cases run family businesses. They directly sell the fruits of their labour to the consumers, and actively contribute to the development of the entrepreneurial fabric of the internal market.

With the proposed reform of the EU Geographical Indications (GIs) system, presented on the 31st March 2022, the European Commission intends to pursue two general objectives, as stated in the Introductory Report to the proposal: 1) strengthening the GIs’ protection system by ensuring effective protection of intellectual property rights in the Union, including harmonized and efficient registration procedures, in order…

Please find attached the position of the Consorzio per la Tutela del formaggio Pecorino Romano, in particular the points to be improved in the revision of the GI scheme, in our opinion, should be as follows: (1) making better use of the framework in which the Groups operate; (2) regulation and harmonisation of the nature, structure and functions of the Groups at EU level; (3) identification of a European Agency for…

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A position paper from the Association of Producers of Bananas Producers in the Canary Islands (ASPROCAN), the Management Body for the Canary Islands Plátano PGI, can be found in the attached file on the proposal put forward by the European Commission for the reform of the EU Geographical Indications system.

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Hello, Please find attached the contribution of the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC). We would like to thank you in advance for your interest in our comments and we remain at your disposal to further elaborate on the various topics covered in this document. Very cordially.

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In the attached file, an opinion on the consultation procedure “EU rules for geographical indications (revision)” of the “Bayerische Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft — Institut für Lebensmittelwirtschaft und Markt”, the “Bayerische Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft — Institut für Lebensmittelwirtschaft und Markt”, responsible for producer controls in the Federal State of Bavaria (Germany).

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The Spanish Association of Designations of Origin — ORIGEN ESPAÑA welcomes the Commission’s initiative to review the policy governing European Union quality schemes (PDO and PGI). We strongly believe that this revision is crucial to strengthen the EU’s quality policy and maximise the potential of geographical indications (GIs), as well as its contribution to the European Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F).

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Comment on: Food and beverages — EU geographical indications scheme (revision) on the provision of food information to consumers. Contribution to the public consultation The Consorzio di Tutela Olio Seggiano PDO was created in 2002 under the influence of a group of amateur entrepreneurs linked to the production of extra virgin olive oil resulting from the processing of olives from the local cultivar, the Olivastra…

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Quality and Origine Rete TOSCANA PDO and PGI, briefly QUORE, is an association set up in March 2022 with the aim of bringing together producers of PDOs and PGIs produced in Tuscany with the aim of sharing objectives, strategies and activities. In this initial phase, nine associations have joined, representing as many products, especially small products that take place in mountains or hills.

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The draft legal text which lies on the table is the outcome of a long-lasting process led by the Commission and pro-actively accompanied by many stakeholders like Copa-Cogeca to which the Austrian Chamber of Agriculture is a member.

1. Delegation of power to EUIPO Copa and Cogeca believe that shifting competencies away from DG AGRI and towards an agency specialised in intellectual property rights and without the necessary knowledge of the specificities of the agricultural sector and the nature of GIs puts at risk this successful policy.

The European dairy is the guardian of a unique culinary heritage and a cultural treasure: next to the legal protection of dairy terms, like ‘milk’, ‘cheese’ or ‘whey’ more than 300 designations of cheeses and other dairy products are protected as Geographical Indications (GI) through the EU quality policy and the GI protection scheme.

oriGIn EU is the European branch of the global alliance of GIs (https://www.origin-gi.com ). Its mission is to ensure better protection and promotion of GIs. oriGIn EU represents individual European GIs groups as well as national GIs organisations. The positive role played by the EU food quality scheme, and in particular GIs is widely demonstrated at producers, consumers, and society’s levels.

The Confédération des vins IGP de France represents and defends the interests of French wine producers with a Protected Geographical Indication and the organisations responsible for these PGIs. In the attached document we return to more detail on several points: producer groups, sustainability, the role of EUIPO, control of wine GIs, the need to maintain the specificities of the wine sector.

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Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the revision of the EU rules on geographical indications. Our comments are as follows: Article 1(1)(a) Processed foods are not agricultural products. Therefore, “and food” should be added to each of the articles of the Regulation. Article 12(4) and (5) Food with PGIs, like all other foods, will also have to meet future sustainability requirements.

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AREPO welcomes the objectives that the European Commission intends to achieve through this proposal for a regulation. However, the ambitions set are not always adequately supported by the legislative provisions. In this regard, we would like to submit the following observations and recommendations.

The International Trademark Association (INTA) would like to thank the European Commission for the opportunity to provide feedback on its consultation to the “EU proposal for regulation on geographical indications for wines, spirit drinks, and agricultural products, and quality schemes for agricultural products”. Our detailed comments can be found in the attached document.

The Competence Center for Nutrition (KErn) is a subordinate authority of the Bavarian State Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry (StMELF). Among others, it carries out several projects in the subject “geographical indications and sustainability” and is therefore strongly involved in the topic area.

Opinion of CNAOL CNAOL — the National Council for Dairy Designations of Origin — brings together all the French PDO and PGI protection and management organisations (ODG). PDOs (46 cheeses, 3 butter and 2 creams) and milk PGI (9 cheeses and 1 cream) account for an average of 270 000 tonnes of products marketed each year.

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Having read the Proposal of European Regulation on Geographical Indications, we would like to stress how the issue of sustainability is not a question concerning in a special way the producers of GIs, as asserted under point 12 of the preliminary considerations, but an horizontal one, concerning rather the whole food sector.

Eurogroup for Animals welcomes the European Commission's proposal on the revision of the geographical indications (GIs) scheme for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products. Why Animal Welfare in GIs Matters The proposal identifies limitations in the existing framework, including the need to integrate sustainability and animal welfare considerations.

While we welcome the recognition that "As sustainability concerns have become more accentuated in recent years, GI and TSG production is not or not systematically taking them into consideration" (p. 5), we regret that “inclusion by the GI producer group of sustainability criteria in the product specification” remain voluntary (art. 12).

On 31 March 2022, the EU COM’s DG AGRI presented its proposal for a regulation on EU Geographical Indications (GIs), also encompassing the ca. 250 GI spirit drinks. We welcome the opportunity to provide feedback and would like to stress key messages on 4 areas: 1. Producer Groups: • spiritsEUROPE welcomes the European Commission’s intention to empower producer groups.

With regard to the possibility of highlighting the presence of POP-PGI ingredients on labels, presentations and advertising of processed products, we suggest that: (1) to provide in Article 28 that the association issuing the authorisation may lay down minimum conditions (for example, indicating the minimum quantity of the ingredient DOP-PGI); (2) to remove from Article 37 (6) the possibility that the name of that…

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1. Management of the system at EUIPO. It is considered appropriate to leave the management unchanged to DGAGRI. The processes for amending the product specification should be simplified. 2. Producer groups. It is important to make resources available to finance protection and promotion activities with non-repayable grants by simplifying access to them.

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A position paper from the Spanish Conference of Wine Regulatory Councils (CECRV), the association representing Spanish wine designations of origin, can be found in the attached file on the legislative proposal presented by the European Commission on 31 March 2014 for the reform of the EU geographical indication system.

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FedeLIS would like to alert the Commission on two points. First of all, it questions the delegation by the Commission of the processing of registration, opposition and amendment of GIs to EUIPO. It points out that GIs are much more complex elements than trade marks and other protection of names. The aim will be to ensure the robustness of the procedures and the independence of the two systems.

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The CNCPI welcomes the Commission's proposal on Geographical Indication for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products, and quality schemes for agricultural products which will increase the use of GIs throughout Europe while giving access to a higher level of protection.

Subject: Proposals for amendments to the Regulation that the European Parliament intends to adopt for geographical indications of the European Union for wines, spirit drinks and agricultural products and to quality schemes for agricultural products, amending Regulations (EU) No 1308/2013, (EU) 2017/1001 and (EU) 2019/787 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012.

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"FROM PLANT TO FORK" A SECTION OF THE STRATEGY "FROM FARM TO FORK" OR ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION THROUGH INTEGRATED COMPLEXES FOR ORGANIC PRODUCTION, SELECTIVE HARVESTING AND DELIVERY ACTIONS PER INTENDED PURPOSE Author: Marin Midilev [email removed] Final material "According to research made in Mexico by the XOCHICALLI Foundation, 19000 kcal must be burnt in order to put 2200 kcal on the table.

Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the roadmap on the revision of the EU Geographical indications schemes. As it was identified in the problems this initiative aims to tackle, PAN Europe agrees that sustainability is a criteria that is not sufficiently reflected in the current GIs framework and that GIs are under-exploited for the purpose of promoting sustainability…

Consumers demand environmentally friendly and socially fair food. However, the current quality certification and denominations (public and private) do not ensure — except in exceptional cases — that these aspects are respected.

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Thank you for this opportunity to provide feedback. Regarding animal products, this scheme is not coherent with the EC’s animal welfare and green ambitions. Requiring no special animal welfare standards, the scheme does not reflect genuine quality. For example, the production of several hams and cheeses have no requirements for animal welfare.

1) Improving sustainable production under the schemes The GI system is set up to protect and promote specific product names, their unique characteristics, linked to their geographical origin as well as traditional know-how. The traditional, often centennial production methods, enshrined in the ‘cahier des charges’ guarantee the economic/social/environmentally sustainable production methods per se.

The number of PDOs, PGIs and TSGs is constantly rising all around Europe, and that is a clear sign that producers trust this safeguard system of the European Union and acknowledge it as a real opportunity. Slow Food welcomes the Revision of the EU geographical indications (GIs) and would like to highlight some key elements that are relevant to Slow Food farmers and producers across Europe.

Consumers demand environmentally friendly and fair food. However, the current quality certification and denominations (public and private) do not ensure — except in exceptional cases — that these aspects are respected.

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We agree with the evaluation that European Union quality schemes have important benefits in preserving local food heritage and production in rural areas. They also allow for product differentiation on the market, thereby supporting entry into new markets and are also expected to allow for higher-price distribution of products.

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The Swedish meat and meat industry, through the Meat and Chark-Companies organisation, considers the protection of traditional products to be important, not least at a time when more and more people appreciate and want unique and nearby products. Protected designation schemes strengthen food production both from a European and national perspective.

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The mountain area is recognized for the superior quality of the agri-food products it supplies. In order to increase the number of products certified in the EU Geographical Indication System (GI) in agriculture, we make the following proposals: • Simplification of registration procedures • Reduction of certification (GI) costs • Carrying out promotion campaigns for GI products at European / national level •…

The initiative to strengthen the protection of geographical indications of agricultural products and foodstuffs is generally welcomed. However, further simplification of procedures must not lead to restrictions on the rights of all parties involved, for example by unduly shortening time limits for appeals. Furthermore, sustainability aspects must not restrict the protection of PGIs and PDOs.

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IFOAM Organics Europe welcomes the Commission’s initiative to revise the EU geographical indications, especially as it considers citizens’ sustainability concerns and ways to incorporate more sustainability within the GI scheme. IFOAM Organics Europe also welcomes the Commission’s efforts to increase sustainability in all aspects and encouraging producers to do so.

Copa and Cogeca welcome the revision launched by the European Commission that covers Geographical Indication (GI) systems in agricultural products and foodstuffs, wines and spirit drinks. Geographical Indications (GIs) help to preserve and boost rural communities through their tradition, history and taste. They are also an important tool when exporting high-quality products to third countries.

CNA Agroalimentare welcomes the European Commission’s decision to consult stakeholders and citizens on the future initiative to revise the EU geographical indications (GI) scheme. The EU quality schemes system is one of the central elements of the Farm to Fork strategy and, in the light of the new challenges facing quality products, CNA Agroalimentare considers it essential to contribute to the revision of EU…

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The role of the EU food quality scheme, and in particular GIs, is widely demonstrated at the level of producers, consumers and society at large. However, expectations in terms of quality, diversity and rural development are changing rapidly.

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spiritsEUROPE proudly represents one of Europe’s most valuable agri-food export sectors and, with it, the interests of 29 associations of spirits producers as well as 10 leading multinational companies. spiritsEUROPE’s mission is to represent, defend and promote the European spirits sector and help members achieve sustainable business growth.

Comments from the Strength2Food project on the European Commission’s Inception Impact Assessment for the revision of the EU Geographical Indications (GIs). The Strength2Food project conducted research to evaluate and improve the performance, effectiveness, and consistency of EU Food Quality Schemes (FQS), including Geographical Indications (GIs) like the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected…

The Traditional Raw Dried Meat Products Association takes the following position with regard to traditional specialities guaranteed: It should be noted that after years of protection at EU level only 8 traditional specialities guaranteed have been protected, the number of traditional specialities guaranteed has recently increased significantly.

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We consider that the envisaged revision of the EU GIs system in agricultural products and foodstuffs, wines and spirits should take into account and preserve the specificities of each of the three types of GIs and not to merge them all in a single, uniform framework.

With reference to the procedure initiated by the Commission on a possible revision of Regulation (EU) No n.1151/2012 alone, Italy notes that the procedure for amending Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, which provides for amendments to the PDO and PGI wine sector and amendments to Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, is currently under way.

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AREPO welcomes the European Commission intention to strengthen GIs legislative framework and thus increase their take up across the EU, while ensuring their effective protection within the EU. In order to better address the challenges faced by EU quality policy as well as to strengthen GIs legal framework, AREPO recommends the European Commission to: 1.

EFOW, the European Federation of Origin Wines (www.efow.eu), is the Brussels-based organisation representing Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) wines towards European institutions. The EU is the world’s leading producer of wine at more than 160 million hl, representing over 60% of world production.

VIER PFOTEN / FOUR PAWS welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the roadmap on the revision of the EU Geographical indications schemes. As the name already clearly implies, EU quality labels, including geographical indications scheme, are designed to inform consumers about a product of value.

Milchindustrie-Verband (MIV), the association representing the German dairy industry, would like to submit two comments regarding the revision of Regulation (EU) No. 1151/2012: 1. Application, examination and registration process As noted earlier in the context of the amendment to Regulation (EU) No.

oriGIn EU is the European branch of the global alliance of GIs (https://www.origin-gi.com). Its mission is to ensure better protection and promotion of GIs before the EU institutions. oriGIn EU represents individual European GIs groups as well as national GIs organisations.

There is no longer any need for concrete evidence to support the arguments which I shall briefly describe. There is no longer a need for demonstrations. only POLITICAL VOLONTY, i.e. a desire to rebalance, according to natural laws, total recycling of pollutants within ecosystems, which over the past 50 years have shaken the Earth’s ability to provide services and absorb pollution (overshoot day in July).

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Not all, not many PGI/PDO products gain added value. Apart from the popular ones Therefore producers do not comply to the obligations concerning the production of a PGI/PDO products. Should work more on the promotion/marketing of the linkage between region and quality. In some categories too many -useless- PGI/PDO exist that aggravate the problem Less and stronger indications (in terms of marketing) is the message.

I am writing from the viewpoint of a researcher, who is currently investigating spatial relationships between PDO-producing landscapes and various social-ecological factors. I want to share 4 points of feedback: 1. Although we have created a spatial dataset on our own, the EC/Eurostat should provide spatial information on the geographic extent of each GI product.

PDOs and PGIs have been instrumental in maintaining biodiversity and protecting indigenous genetic resources, generating value, employment and sustainability of rural populations. Geographical indications are protected by the rules on intellectual property rights, which safeguard these products from the misuse or imitation of the registered name, guaranteeing their consumers the true origin of the product.

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