RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/85/Add.1
2 July 1999
(99-2747)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights
OVERVIEW OF EXISTING INTERNATIONAL NOTIFICATION AND REGISTRATION
SYSTEMS FOR GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS RELATING TO
PRODUCTS OTHER THAN WINES AND SPIRITS
Note by the Secretariat
Addendum
I. INTRODUCTION
1. At its meeting of 17 February 1999, the Council agreed to request the Secretariat to look to
see what additional information it could provide on national and international systems for the
protection of geographical indications relating to products other than wines and spirits, taking into
account that (document IP/C/M/22, paragraph 102):
- as far as national systems were concerned, information on such systems would be
covered in the work that the Council was considering to ask of the Secretariat as a
follow-up to the responses to the Check list of Questions (documents IP/C/13 and
Add.1) the Council had developed in the co ntext of the review under Article 24.2;
- as regards international systems, the note prepared by the Secretariat on international
notification and registration systems for geographical indications relating to wines
and spirits, which had been circulated as document IP/C/W/85, provided informationwhich was also relevant to product areas other than wines and spirits.
2. In response to the Council's request, the present note has been prepared.  After addressing the
extent to which agreements dealt with in document IP/C/W/85 relate to product areas other than wines
and spirits, it provides information on two interna tional systems which do not relate to wines and/or
spirits and which are, therefore, not dealt with in document IP/C/W/85, namely the International
Convention for the use of appellations d'origine a nd denominations of cheeses ("Stresa Convention")
and the International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives, 1986.
3. It is recalled that the issue of the scope of pr oduct coverage in regard to work in the Council
on geographical indications has been addressed by the Council in paragraph 34 of its Report (1996),
1
which was endorsed by the Singapore Ministerial Conference in December 1996.2  Paragraph 34 reads
as follows:
                                                     
1 Document IP/C/8.
2 Paragraph 19 of the Singapore Ministerial Declaration reads as follows:
"19. Bearing in mind that an important aspect of WTO activities is a continuous
overseeing of the implementation of various agreements, a periodic examination and updating
of the WTO Work Programme is a key to enable the WTO to fulfil its objectives .  I n  t h i sIP/C/W/85/Add.1
Page 2
"34. Members further reaffirm their commitment  to the TRIPS built-in agenda agreed during
the Uruguay Round, including any time-frames sp ecified in the relevant provisions, and to
carrying out as and when appropriate analytical work and information exchange so as to allow
Members a better prior understanding of the issues  involved without prejudice to the timing or
scope of the reviews or negotiations envisaged in that built-in agenda.  In regard to geographicalindications, the Council has agreed that a review  of the application of the provisions of the
section on geographical indications  as provided for in Article 24.2 would take the form outlined
in paragraph 27 above,
3 which permits inputs from delegations on the issue of scope, and the
Council will initiate in 1997 preliminary work on i ssues relevant to the negotiations specified in
Article 23.4 of the TRIPS Agreement concerning the establishment of a multilateral system of
notification and registration of geographical indications for wines.  Issues relevant to a
notification and registration system for spirits will be part of this preliminary work.  All of theabove work would be conducted w ithout prejudice to the rights and obligations of Members
under the TRIPS Agreement and in particular under the specific provisions of the TRIPS built-
in agenda."
                                                                                                                                                                    
context, we endorse the reports  of the various WTO bodies.  A major share of the Work
Programme stems from the WTO Agreement and decisions adopted at Marrakesh.  As part of
these Agreements and decisions we agreed to a number of provisions calling for futurenegotiations on Agriculture, Services and aspects of TRIPS, or reviews and other work onAnti-Dumping,  Customs Valuation,  Dispute Settlement Understanding, Import Licensing,
Preshipment Inspection, Rules of Origin, Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Measures, Safeguards,Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, Technical  Barriers to Trade, Textiles and Clothing,
Trade Policy Review Mechanism, Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and
Trade-Related Investment Measures.   We agree to a process of analysis and exchange of
information, where provided for in the conc lusions and recommendations of the relevant
WTO bodies, on the Built-in Agenda issues, to allow Members to better understand the issuesinvolved and identify their interests before undertaking the agreed negotiations and reviews.
We agree  that:
- the time-frames established in the Agreements will be respected in each case;- the work undertaken shall not prejudge the scope of future negotiations where such 
negotiations are called for;  and
- the work undertaken shall not prejudice the nature of the activity agreed upon (i.e. 
negotiation or review)."
3 Paragraph 27 of document IP/C/8 reads as follows:
"27. Article 24.2 requires the Council for TRIPS to keep under review the application of the
provisions of the Section of the Agreement on geographical indications, and states that the firstsuch review shall take place within two years of the entry into force of the WTO Agreement.  Atthe Council's May and July meetings, the Chairman raised the questions of when and how thisreview should be undertaken.  As mentioned in paragraph 16 above, the Council will review
legislation in the areas of trademarks, geograph ical indications and industrial designs at its
meeting scheduled for 11-15 November 1996.  The Council at its September meeting receivedsome proposals in connection with the review under Article 24.2.  It agreed to take up work onthis matter by including on the agenda of the November meeting an item "Review of theApplication of the Provisions of the Section on Geographical Indications under Article 24.2"which will be addressed after and taking into account the review of legislation in the areas
referred to above, it being understood that this would permit the consideration of the proposals
put forward in September together with any other inputs from delegations."IP/C/W/85/Add.1
Page 3
II. AGREEMENTS DEALT WITH IN DOCUMENT IP/C/W/85
4. Document IP/C/W/85 provides an overview of existing international notification and
registration systems for geographical indications relating to wines and spirits.  However, some of the
systems established by the international instruments dealt with in that document have a wider productcoverage.  Paragraphs 7, 26 and 32 of document IP/C/W/85 specifically address product coverage.
5. The Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International
Registration applies, regardless of the products covered, to 'appellations of origin' which meet the
specific definition contained in its Article 2, which reads as follows:
"In this Agreement, 'appellation of origin' means the geographical name of a country, region,
or locality, which serves to designate a product originating therein, the quality and
characteristics of which are due exclusively or essentially to the geographical environment,including natural and human factors."
6. Appellations of origin registered under the Lisbon Agreement cover a large range of products,
including not only wines and spirits, but also other beverages, fruits and vegetables, dairy products,
meat products, fish, honey, various other agricultural produce, products of handicraft or industry and
extractive products such as salt and silica.
7. The Bangui Agreement of 2 March 1977 Co ncerning the Creation of OAPI (African
Intellectual Property Organization) defines in Article 1 of Annex VI the term 'appellation of origin' as
'the geographical denomination of a country, a region or a specific place used to designate a product
which originates therein and the characteristic qualities of which are due exclusively or essentially to
the geographical environment, including natural factors, human factors or both natural and humanfactors;  a denomination which refers to a specific geographical area for the purpose of certain
products, without being the denomination of a country, region or a specific place, also qualifies as
such a geographical denomination.'  'Product' is defined as 'any natural, agricultural, handicraft or
industrial product'.
4
8. The information available to the Secretariat does not show practical experience with this
system other than resulting from the Lisbon Agreem ent, to which four OAPI member states are party.5
                                                     
4 The translation of language from the Agreement in the present paper is unofficial.
5 None of these OAPI member states, i.e. Burkina Faso, Congo, Gabon and Togo, have registered
'appellations of origin' under the Lisbon Agreement or notified any refusals.  This is reflected in documentIP/C/W/85, paragraphs 24 and 25, which read as follows (footnotes omitted):
"Up to 1 January 1997, the International Bureau of  WIPO has registered 738 appellations of origin
from the following countries:  France (472), Czech Republic (70), Bulgaria (48), Slovak Republic (37),Hungary (28), Italy (26), Algeria (19), Cuba (18), T unisia (7), Portugal (6), Mexico (4), Israel (1).
Most of those registrations were effected during the years 1967 to 1985 (more than half - 440registrations - in 1967, the year after the entry into force of the Lisbon Agreement).  In the same period,
13 registrations were cancelled.
"Up to 1 January 1997, altogether 90 refusals have been pronounced in respect of international
registrations, by the following countries:  Mexico  (35), Israel (16), Cuba (11), Czechoslovakia (9),
France (6), Haiti (6), Portugal (4), Hungary (2), Italy (1).  All these refusals were made during the years1967 to 1981.  The International Bureau has also received 30 communications concerning the
cancellation of an initial refusal."IP/C/W/85/Add.1
Page 4
9. Other regional and bilateral agreements in force also often have a wider product coverage.
Such agreements can be found in several notifications made under Article 4(d) of the TRIPS
Agreement (IP/N/4/COUNTRY/- series of documents), for example:
- Cartagena Agreement (Andean Community), in particular Decision No. 344;
- Agreement between the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Republic of Austria
on the Protection of Indications of Source, Appellations of Origin and Other
Geographical Denominations (entry into force:  26 February 1981);
- Agreement between Austria and France on the Protection of Indications of Source,
Appellations of Origin and Denominations of Products of Agriculture and Industry of
10 May 1974 (entry into force:  24 September 1975);6
- Treaty of 7 March 1967 between the Swiss Confederation and the Federal Republic
of Germany on the Protection of Indications of Source and Other GeographicalDesignations (entry into force:  30 August 1969);
- Treaty of 9 April 1974 between the Swiss Confederation and the Spanish State on the
Protection of Indications of Source, Appell ations of Origin and Similar Designations
(entry into force:  10 March 1976);
7
- Agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and France on the Protection
of Indications of Source, Appellati ons of Origin and Other Geographical
Denominations (entry into force:  7 May 1960;  amendments entered into force on 1
November 1969);8
- Article IV of the Convention on Trade Relations between Spain and Cuba of
23 January 1979 (entry into force:  1 February 1979);
- Agreement of 16 December 1970 between Spain and Portugal on the Protection of
Indications of Source, Appellations of Origin and the Denominations of Certain
Products (entry into force:  23 August 1972);9
- Agreement of 10 July 1933 between Costa Rica and France on the Reciprocal
Protection of Industrial Property and Appellations of Origin (entry into force:23 July 1935);
- Convention between El Salvador and France of 20 September 1932 concerning the
Protection of Appellations of Origin;
- Convention of 2 April 1964 between France and Italy on the Protection of
Appellations of Origin, Indications of Source and Denominations of Certain Products
                                                     
6 Similar agreements exist between Austria and Greece (entry into force:  19 August 1972), Austria and
Italy (entry into force:  1 September 1954), and Aust ria and Spain (entry into force:  15 December 1977).
7 Similar treaties exist between the Swiss C onfederation and France (entry into force:
10 October 1975), the Swiss Confederation and Hungary (entry into force:  14 August 1981), the SwissConfederation and Portugal (entry into force:  14 May 1980), the Swiss Confederation and the CzechoslovakSocialist Republic (entry into force:  14 January 1976).
8 Similar agreements exist between Germany and Italy, Germany and Greece, Germany and
Switzerland, and Germany and Spain.
9 Similar agreements exist between Spain and Aust ria, Spain and France, Spain and Germany, Spain
and Italy, and Spain and Switzerland.IP/C/W/85/Add.1
Page 5
(entry into force:  24 April 1969;  additions and modifications agreed through an
exchange of letters of 6 May 1969 and 13 February 1970);10
- Agreement between Czechoslovakia and Portugal on Data of Origin Protection,
Appellations of Origin of Products and Other Geographical Marks (1987);
- Agreement between the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic on Rules regarding
Origin of Goods and Methods of Administrative Co-operation.
III. INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE USE OF APPELLATIONS D'ORIGINE
AND DENOMINATIONS OF CHEESES ("STRESA CONVENTION")
10. The International Convention for the use of appellations d'origine  and denominations of
cheeses was signed at Stresa on 1 June 1951 and completed at The Hague on 18 July 1951.  It entered
into force on 12 July 1953.  The Agreement is open for accession by any state.
11. To date, seven countries are party to the Convention:  Austria, Denmark, France, Italy,
The Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland.
12. The contracting parties to the Convention commit themselves to prohibit and repress within
their territories, in the languages of the state or in a foreign language, the use of the appellations
d'origine , denominations and designations of cheeses contrary to the provisions of the Convention.
This commitment is stipulated in Article 1 of the Convention and applies, according to that provision,
to all specifications which constitute false information as to the origin, variety, nature or specific
qualities of the cheeses, stated on these cheeses or upon products which might be confused withcheese and which are circulated, imported, stored, offered or sold on the home market, as well as for
export;  it also applies to the wordings used upon wrappings, invoices, way-bills, commercial papers
as well as in advertising, marks, names, inscriptions and illustrations.
11
13. For the purposes of the present note, attention is drawn, in particular, to Articles 3, 4, 5 and 9
of the Convention:
"Article 3
The appellations d'origine  which are the object of internal legislation reserving their use,
within the territorial confines of one of the Contracting Parties, to cheese manufactured or
matured in traditional regions, by virtue of local, loyal and uninterrupted usages, are listed
country by country in Annex A;  they are exclusively reserved to these cheeses whether they
are used alone or accompanied by a qualifying or even corrective term such as "type", "kind",
"imitation", or other term.
"Article 4
The denominations that are the object of internal legislation within the territorial confines of
the Contracting Party, which first has used these denominations and which uses them only for
cheeses having definite characteristics, are specified by countries in Annex B.
                                                     
10 Similar agreements exist between France and Austria (entry into force:  24 September 1975;  an
additional convention entered into force on 24 Sept ember 1976), France and Germany (entry into force:
7 May 1961;  additions entered into force on 1 Nove mber 1969), France and Spain (of 27 June 1973), France
and Switzerland (of 14 May 1974).
11 Articles 2, 6, 7 and 8 lay down standards for the use of the term 'cheese'.IP/C/W/85/Add.1
Page 6
"The characteristics of the cheeses to which these denominations are applied are defined by
the interested Contracting Party and shall refer mainly to the shape, weight, size, type and
colour of the rind and curd, as well as to the fat content of the cheese.
"The denominations of cheeses enlisted in Annex B shall not be transferred to Annex A;  they
may be used by the other Contracting Parties for designating exclusively cheesesmanufactured on their territory and having the characteristics defined in Annex B, provided
that the denomination be accompanied by th e indication of the manufacturing Country in
letters identical in type, size and colour, with those used for the denomination.
"Article 5
Any Contracting Party may request the inclusion in Annex A or B of an appellation d'origine
or denomination of cheese as well as any addition to the Annexes.
"To this end it will transmit its request to the Government of the Italian Republic, the
depositary of this Convention, which will inform all the members of the Permanent Council,
hereafter mentioned, of this request.
"The request and the documents accompanying it will be supplied in as many copies as there
Contracting Parties.
"All requests for inclusion will be accompanied:
(a) in Annex B by the text to be included in the Annex, a justifying statement and
the advisory opinion of the International Dairy Federation which the Contracting
Party will have previously obtained;
(b) in Annex A by these same documents and, in addition, not only by the text of
the internal legislation mentioned in the foregoing Article 3 but also by all documentswhich demonstrate that the appellation d'origine  in question has been in use within a
part or the whole of the territorial confines of the Contracting Party, by virtue of
local, loyal and constant usage, for the designation of cheese originating from, and
possessing characteristics typical of, a defined region.
"In order to examine these requests a Permanent Council is established which shall be
composed of one Representative of each of the Contracting Parties;  the said Permanent
Council shall establish its own statutes and rules of procedure.
"All inclusions in Annex A shall require a majority of three-quarters of all the members of the
Permanent Council and those in Annex B shall require a simple majority.
"The Permanent Council shall decide, on request, for inclusion within a maximum period of
six months from the date of receipt by the Government of the Italian Republic of such request
from the Contracting Party and the Italian Republic shall notify the decision to each of theContracting Parties.
"With respect to their internal markets the Contracting Parties are granted a maximum period
of two years, commencing with the actual date  of the new inclusion, in order to permit them
to comply with the additional obligations resu lting therefrom.  Any Contracting Party shall
notify its desire to benefit from this provision to the Government of the Italian Republic,which will inform the Members of the Permanent Council accordingly.IP/C/W/85/Add.1
Page 7
"Article 9
Any dispute with respect to the interpretation of the clauses of the present Convention or the
difficulties of application, that cannot be defined through direct negotiations, shall be brought
before the Permanent Council mentioned in the foregoing Article 5.
"The Council, after having consulted the International Dairy Federation and taking into
account all supporting documents and useful data, will try to reach a conciliating settlement;
in case of failure in reaching such settlement and after having pursued every available means
of conciliation, the interested Contracting Parties reserve the right of recourse, as a last resort,
to the International Court of Justice.
"The Governments therein interested pledge themselves to share between them the procedure
costs."
14. As regards experience with the Stresa Convention, the Secretariat has received some
information from the Italian Government (Ministero per le Politiche Agricole, Direzione Generale
Politiche Agricole e Agroindustriali Nazionali), which is the depositary of the Convention and which
holds the Secretariat of the Convention.  This information dates from the early days of the
Convention.  No information is available to the Secretariat concerning the years after 1973.12
15. When concluding the Convention and its Protocols, the contracting parties identified the
following cheeses that could be included in Annexes A and B, subject to certain transitional
arrangements and provided that certain formalities would be fulfilled.13
Annex A
Gorgonzola ((Italy)
Parmigiano Romano (Italy)Pecorino Romano (Italy)
Roquefort (France)
Annex B
Adelost (Sweden)
Asiago (Italy)
Brie (France)
Caciocavallo (Italy)
Camembert (France)
Danablu (Denmark)
Danoe (Denmark)Edam (Netherlands)
Elbo (Denmark)
Emmental (Switzerland)
Fiore Sardo (Italy)
Fontina (Italy)Frisian (Netherlands)
Fynbo (Denmark)
                                                     
12 The texts of the Agreement and its Protocols, as well as of the Statute and Rules of Procedure of the
Permanent Council, are available in the Secretariat for consultation by interested delegations.
13 These transitional arrangements and formalities are stipulated in two Protocols concluded at the same
time as the Convention, 1 June 1951, as amended by the Protocol of 18 July 1951.IP/C/W/85/Add.1
Page 8
Gouda (Netherlands)
Gruyère (Switzerland)
Gudbrandsdalsost (Norway)
Havarti (Denmark)
Herregaards (Sweden)Leyden (Netherlands)
Maribo (Denmark)
Marmors (Denmark)
Noekkelost (Norway)
Pinzgauer Bergkaese (Austria)
Provolone (Italy)
Saint-Paulin (France)Samsoe (Norway)
Sbrinz (Switzerland)
Svecia (Sweden)
Tybo (Denmark)
16. The necessary conditions for obtaining the protection offered by the Convention were met in
respect of all these cheeses.  In addition, upon requests from Denmark under Article 5 of the
Convention, in conjunction with Article 4, two other cheeses were also included in Annex B in the
early years of the Convention:
Included in Annex B pursuant to Article 5 of the Convention
Esrom (Denmark)
Mycella (Denmark)
17. The information made available to the Secretariat further shows that France, in 1972, made a
number of proposals for modification of the Conven tion.  Also in 1972, some questions were raised
by Switzerland in the Permanent Council concerni ng the use of the denomination "Emmental".  No
information is available to the Secretariat as to wh at deliberations have been held in the Permanent
Council on these matters, nor as to whether the procedures for dispute settlement of Article 9 of the
Convention have been invoked on this or any other conflict between contracting parties.
IV. INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT ON OLIVE OIL AND TABLE OLIVES, 1986
18. The International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives, 1986 was negotiated at the
United Nations Conference on Olive Oil held in Geneva from 18 June to 1 July 1986 and came into
force provisionally on 1 January 1987 and definitively on 1 December 1988.  The Agreement expired
on 31 December 1993.  A Protocol, adopted in Geneva  in March 1993, extended the Agreement, with
amendments, for a further five years, ending on 31 December 1998.  The International Olive Oil
Council may decide to prolong this Protocol for successive periods not exceeding two years on eachoccasion.  It has been extended for a period which will end on 31 December 2000.
14  The Agreement
is open for accession by any state upon conditions established  by the Council.
                                                     
14 The International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives, 1986 is the fourth Agreement on the
subject-matter.  The first Agreement was the International Agreement on Olive Oil, 1956, as amended by theProtocol of 3 April 1958.  The International Olive Oil Council (IOOC) was established in 1959 to administer theAgreement and continued to administer also the subsequent Agreements.  The second Agreement was theInternational Olive Oil Agreement, 1963, which was extended until 31 December 1978, by the Protocols of30 March 1967, 7 March 1969 (with amendments) and 23 March 1973 (also with amendments).  The 1963
Agreement was later extended for a further one-year period to 31 December 1979 by the Protocol negotiated in
Geneva on 7 April 1978 at the United Nations Conference on Olive Oil convened by UNCTAD.  This extensionIP/C/W/85/Add.1
Page 9
19. Currently, the contracting parties to the Agreement are Algeria, Croatia, Cyprus, the
European Communities and their member States, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, the Syrian Arab
Republic, Tunisia and Yugoslavia.
20. The Agreement contains, inter alia , provisions for the protection of the designations for
"olive oil" and "table olives" defined in the Agreement for the various qualities of olive oil, as well asfor the protection of indications of source or appellations d'origine .
15
21. Protection of indications of source and appellations of origin does not take place on the basis
of their international notification or registration, nor on the basis of lists of such indications or
appellations taken up in, or annexed to, the Agreement, but member states have committed themselves
to protect indications of source and appellations of origin by allowing their use only in conformity
with the conditions for their use as prescribed by the law of the country of origin.
22. The key provisions in the Agreement concerning the protection of indications of source and
appellations of origin are Articles 28, 29 and 30:
"Article 28
Indications of source and appellations of origin
1. Indications of source, when given, may only be applied to virgin olive oil produced
and originating exclusively in the country, region or locality mentioned.
"2. Appellations of origin, when given, may only be applied to extra virgin olive oil
produced and originating exclusively in the country, region or locality mentioned.
"3. Indications of source and appellations of origin may only be used in conformity with
the conditions prescribed by the law of the country of origin.
"Article 29
Undertakings
1. The Members undertake to adopt at the earliest possible date all the necessary
measures, in the form prescribed by their respective legislations, to ensure the application of
the principles and provisions set forth in Articles 25, 26 and 28.16
"2. They shall, in addition, endeavour to apply the provisions of Articles 26 and 28 to
their internal trade.
"3. They undertake, in particular, to prohibit and repress the use in their territories, for
purposes of international trade, of such indications of source, appellations of origin and
designations of olive oil and olive-residue oil as conflict with those principles.  This
undertaking shall apply to all inscriptions placed on packagings, invoices, consignment notes
and commercial documents or used in advertising, and to trade marks, registered names and
                                                                                                                                                                    
made it possible to continue preparation of a new International Olive Oil Agreement within the context of
UNCTAD Resolution 93(IV) on the Integrated Programme for Commodities, which was negotiated during the1979 United Nations Conference on Olive Oil, held in Geneva, 20 to 30 March 1979.  This third Agreementcame into force definitively on 1 January 1981 and expired on 31 December 1986.
15 All predecessor Agreements also laid down such provisions.
16 Article 25 lays down standards for the use of the designation "olive oil".  Article 26 lays down
standards for the designations and definitions of olive oils and olive-pomace oils of the different qualities.IP/C/W/85/Add.1
Page 10
illustrations connected with the international marketing of olive oil and olive-pomace oil, in
so far as such inscriptions might constitute false statements or give rise to confusion as to the
origin, source or quality of the olive oil or olive-pomace oil concerned.
"Article 30
Disputes and reconciliation
1. Any dispute concerning indications of sour ce and appellations of origin which arises
from the interpretation of the provisions of this chapter or from difficulties of application
shall, if the dispute has not been settled by direct negotiation, be examined by the Council.
"2. The Council shall endeavour to reconcile th e dispute, after seeking the opinion of an
advisory panel as provided for in Article 50, paragraph 1, and after consultation with the
World Intellectual Property Organization, the International Olive Oil Federation and a
competent professional organization of a mainly importing Member, and, if necessary, withthe International Chamber of Commerce and the specialized international institutions for
analytical chemistry;  if this is unsuccessful, and after the Council has determined that every
means has been employed to reach agreement, the Members concerned shall have the right of
recourse in the final instance to the International Court of Justice."
23. When consulting with the Inte rnational Olive-Oil Council in Madrid for the preparation of
this part of this note, the Secretariat was informed that, at least under the 1986 Agreement, the
procedures of Article 30 had never been invoked to date in connection with an issue concerning
appellations of origin or indications of source, nor had such issues been the subject of discussions in
the Council.
17
__________
                                                     
17 This information was given to the Secretariat subj ect to checking.  Since, the Secretariat has not
received any information to the contrary.