When you buy Czech glass, you will have the certainty that it was made in Bohemia and is not a fake or a replica.
Jozef Síkela, Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, Chairman Competitiveness Council, 01.12.2022
After a lengthy preparatory phase that began with initial consultations in 2013 and intensified in 2020/2021, the European Commission presented its proposal for a regulation on the protection of geographical indications for craft and industrial products on April 13, 2022 (COM (2022) 174 final). Following the example of the protection of geographical indications in the food sector (Regulation (EU) No. 1151/2012; Regulation (EU) 2021/2117), this legal act, which is directly applicable in the member states, is intended to create a uniform European law for the protection of designations of origin for artisanal and industrial products. The regulation is also intended to implement the obligations under the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications, to which the EU acceded in November 2019.
After the Competition Council of 01.12.2022 has approved the project in principle in a joint orientation despite some – also considerable – amendment requests (Council document 14703/22 (PI 152) of 24.11.2022) and the draft report of the rapporteur Marion Walsmann (D, CDU) of the JURI Committee of the European Parliament of 05.10.2022 (2022/0115(COD)) sees the project positively, the project could be adopted in the foreseeable future.
What will be in store for German craftsmen and industry? The aim of the regulation is to create Union-wide protection of geographical indications for craft and industrial products. In addition to the existing protection for wines and foodstuffs, this is also intended to create protection for craft and industrial products. The protection of the indication of source is to cover products which, according to the Council’s ideas, are either “made entirely by hand or with the aid of hand tools or digital tools or mechanical means, provided that the direct manual contribution constitutes the principal element of the finished product, or which are produced in a standardized manner, normally in series and with the use of machinery” (Art 3). The scope of application of the new regulation will therefore be wide and will be essentially contiguous to the already protected agricultural products.
Protection of the indication of source will follow registration in an EU register, with a two-stage EU examination procedure available to the applicant. An initial examination will be carried out by national authorities, followed by confirmation of the application and title registration by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). For member states which show only “a minor local interest in the protection of craft and industrial products by geographical indications” (Council document para. 18), a direct application to the EUIPO can be foreseen.
Registration can be made if the product originates from “a particular place, region or country”, if “its quality, reputation or other characteristics … are essentially attributable to that geographical origin” and “at least one of the stages of production of the product … takes place in the defined geographical area” (Art 5). There must be a product specification which contains a description of the product including the raw materials used, at least one product step must take place in the designated area. (Art 7).
The geographical indication for artisanal and industrial products is, as already with the protected designation of origin and protected geographical indication for food (VO (EU) VO (EU) No. 1151/2012Art 12 Abs.1) a collective right that can be used by any producer of a certain geographical area who complies with the product specification (Art 39 para 2 Council draft).
The Council attaches importance to a clear relationship between the geographical indication and trademarks (Council document para 20). Registration as a protected geographical indication should therefore not take place if, “in the light of a well-known trademark or a well-known brand … it would be liable to mislead the consumer as to the true identity of the product” (Art 39(1) Council draft).
The detailed provisions on domain protection envisaged by the Commission found little favour in the Council and are likely to be replaced by the general provisions of the Regulation, which are expressly intended to apply also to the use of domain names (Art 35 Council document).
Compliance with the regulation will be ensured by the users of the protected designation of origin themselves. If one follows the ideas of the Council for a simple and streamlined procedure (Council document para. 22ff, 24), the producer must submit a self-declaration before the first placing on the market, in which he confirms the conformity of his product with the product specifications. This declaration must be renewed every three years (Art 46 Council draft). The authority checks the declaration for completeness and consistency, but can also carry out checks independently or have them carried out by authorized representatives. If it finds violations, it takes corrective action.
Some things will be rewritten in the course of the legislative process. The rapporteur of the JURI committee alone has received over 500 amendments (from only a few members, however). However, the basic cornerstones for an extension of the protection of geographical indications for products of craft or industry, which are associated with a special area, are recognizable. The yellow-red or money-blue stickers familiar from foodstuffs, which refer to this special protection, can therefore soon also be expected on glass products from Bohemia or – I come from Baden-Württemberg – cuckoo clocks. The protection of intellectual property will receive a new variant, to which producers and consumers will have to adjust.
