EU Council adopts improved rules on agricultural quality products

21/03/06 The EU Agriculture Council has adopted two regulations to clarify and streamline rules for the registration of protected geographical indications (PGIs) and protected designations of origin (PDOs), as well as traditional specialities guaranteed (TSGs). The first regulation on geographical indications and designations of origin also implements the findings of a recent WTO panel.

“In adopting this new regulation, the EU has made the registration procedure for PDOs and PGIs more efficient and fully WTO-compatible,” said Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development. “I am particularly satisfied that, by adopting the new regulation on geographical indications and designations of origin, the EU will meet the WTO deadline of 3 April,” she said, adding that: “Full credit is due to the Parliament, which delivered its opinion last Thursday, and to the President and Members of Council.”

Since the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, quality policy has been playing an increasingly prominent role, the EU said. The number of regional and speciality products other than wine and spirits for which names are registered under EU quality schemes now stands at 727 and continues to grow. In order to improve and make the registration process more efficient, the new regulations simplify procedures and clarify the role of Member States. Once the regulations adopted today are in force, the Commission intends to conduct a review of agricultural quality policy in particular to address many suggestions for policy reform raised by the Parliament, Member States and other stakeholders.

Geographical indications and designations of origin are names identifying a product as originating in a given territory, and testifying to a link between a given quality, reputation or characteristic of the product and its geographical origin.

EU agricultural quality policy aims at promoting production of quality products and supporting rural development. The EU schemes protect consumers against misleading information and producers against unfair competition.

An EU system for the registration and protection of GIs for products other than wine and spirits was established in 1992 by Council Regulation (EEC) n° 2081/92.

In a panel ruling issued in 2004, the WTO upheld the integrity of this system by rejecting the majority of claims made by the United States and Australia. The regulation now brings the system into conformity in the two areas that were criticised: firstly by formally deleting a requirement that the third country should apply similar protection on a reciprocal and equivalent basis, and secondly by allowing third country operators to submit applications and objections directly to the Commission rather than through their governments. The deadline for implementing the ruling is 3 April 2006.