The Geographical Indications (GIs) schemes protect valuable names of foods and drinks against copying/fraud and certify that they were made to high standards in a specific country or region. The proposed revision by the Commission aims in particular but not only at strengthening the system by improving sustainable production under the schemes.
Europe offers renowned rich and diverse food and drink products, such as the 250 GI spirit drinks. Those GIs ensure in a unique way the protection of tradition and the ‘terroir’. They contribute to innovation whilst maintaining highest product and production standards in consumer safety and environmental protection. Closely linked to specific places throughout the EU, GI spirits significantly contribute to local developments, in particular in rural areas which often are under the threat of brain drain (see article above).
GI products represent the European culture and culinary heritage that is promoted across the world, contributing significantly to national budgets. GI spirit drinks are inherently sustainable from an economic, social, and environmental perspective.
We support the European Commission objective to strengthen the Geographical Indications schemes for all agricultural sectors and to improve their contributions to sustainable production. However, we have a number of concerns which we have highlighted to the Commission, notably regarding the role and governance of so called “(recognized) producer groups” whose status should remain unchanged.
On new sustainability criteria for GIs, we ask the Commission to not impose mandatory requirements. Based on centuries of skills and experience, we know sustainable business practice is best assessed at local level by local people - in line with the principle of subsidiarity. Further, sustainability measure imposed by governments on EU and/or national level often miss the objective to be achieved – sustainable practices are defined by local environments; there is no one-size-fits-all approach and businesses need the flexibility for R&D activities to explore various means to improve their products’ individual sustainability performance
GI products, such as spirits, are of high value, and they naturally are at risk of being subject to fraudulent activities. We very much welcome the strengthening of the existing legal protection, in particular, the provisions to fight against infringements on the Internet (domain names, online sales) and the clarifications concerning the false or misleading indication on any documentation, website, packaging, etc
Finally, spiritsEUROPE welcomes the Commissions objective to modernize the management and administration of GIs, which will increase the attractiveness of GI products for operators. The delegation of specific, limited and strictly defined tasks to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) can help in this attempt. However, we urge the European Commission to remain in power of key decisions and to oversee co-decision procedures to ensure that the specificities of spirit drinks are fully considered and respected. DG AGRI, who drafted the Spirit Drinks Regulations and who is looking after our sector for years, needs to remain the entity responsible for GI spirits drinks.
