II
(Non-legislative acts)
INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
COUNCIL DECISION  (EU) 2019/1754
of 7 October 2019
on t he accession of the European Union to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on 
Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having r egard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 207  in conjunction 
wit
h point (a) of  Article 218(6)  thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,
Having regard to the consent of the European Parliament,
Whereas:
(1) The Lisbon A greement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration of 
31 Oct ober  1958  (‘the Lisbon A greement ’) cr eated a special union (‘the Special U nion ’) wit hin the framework of 
the Union for the Protection of Industrial Property which was established by the Convention for the Protection 
of Industrial Property signed in Paris on 20 Mar ch  1883  (‘the P aris Convention ’). Under the terms of the Lisbon 
Agreement, the contracting parties undertake to protect on their territories the appellations of origin of products 
of the other countries within the Special Union which are recognised and protected as such in the country of 
origin and which are registered at the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization 
(WIPO), unless those parties declare, within a period of one y ear from the receipt of the notification of such 
a registration, that they cannot ensure such protection.
(2) Seven Member S tates are parties to the Lisbon Agreement, namely Bulgaria (since 1975), the Czech Republic 
(since 1993), France (since 1966), Italy (since 1968), Hungary (since 1967), Portugal (since 1966) and Slovakia 
(since 1993). Three other Member States have signed, but not ratified the Lisbon Agreement, namely Greece, 
Spain and Romania. The Union itself is not a party t o the Lisbon Agreement as it provides that only countries 
can accede to it.
(3) On 20 May  2015 , the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indica­
tions
 (‘the Geneva Act ’) was adopted which revised the Lisbon Agreement. In particular, the Geneva Act expands 
the scope of the Special Union in order to extend the protection of appellations of origin of products to all 
geographical indications within the meaning of the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Trade-Related 
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The Geneva Act is compatible with that agreement and with relevant 
Union law on the protection of designations of origin and geographical indications for agricultural products, and 
allows intergovernmental organisations to become contracting parties to it.
(4) The U nion has exclusive competence for the areas covered by the Geneva Act. This was confirmed in the judge­
ment of the Court of Justice of 25 Oct ober  2017  in Case C-389/15  (1) whic h clarified that the draft revised 
Lisbon Agreement, which has been subsequently adopted as the Geneva Act, is essentially intended to facilitate 
and govern trade between the Union and the third States party to the Lisbon Agreement and has direct and 
immediate effects on such trade. Therefore the negotiation of the Geneva Act fell within the exclusive compe­
tence of the Union pursuant to point (e) o f Article 3(1)  TFEU as it was within the field of the common commer­
cial policy ref
erred to in Article 207(1)  TFEU , in particular with regard to the commercial aspects of intellectual 
property.
(1)Judgment of the Court of Justice of 25 October  2017 , Commission v Council,  C-389/15,  ECLI:EU:C:2017:798.L 271/12 EN Official Journal of the European Union 24.10.2019(5) Regarding cer tain agricultural products, the Union has established uniform and comprehensive protection sys­
tems for geographical indications for wines (1970), spirits (1989), aromatised wines (1991) and other agricul­
tural products and foodstuffs (1992). Based on the exclusive competence of the Union under Article 3  TFEU , 
Member States should not have national protection systems to protect agricultural designations of origin and 
geographical indications of third country members of the Special Union. However, since the Union is not 
a contracting par ty to the Geneva Act, it cannot submit agricultural designations of origin and geographical 
indications registered at Union level for protection within the Special Union, nor can it protect third country 
members’ designations of origin and geographical indications by means of the protection systems established by 
the Union in accordance with the Geneva Act.
(6) In or der for the Union to be able to properly exercise its exclusive competence for the areas covered by the 
Geneva Act and its functions in the context of its comprehensive protection systems for agricultural designations 
of origin and geographical indications, the Union should accede to the Geneva Act and become a contracting 
par
ty thereto.
(7) The U nion’s accession to the Geneva Act is in accordance with Article 17(2)  of t he Charter of Fundamental 
Rights of the European Union, which provides for the protection of intellectual property.
(8) The Union should endeaveour to regularise the issue of its voting rights in the Assembly of the Special Union of 
t
he Geneva Act in order to ensure its effective participation in the decision-making procedures, in view of point 
(b)(ii)  of Article 22(4)  of the Geneva Act. It is therefore appropriate that the Member States which wish to do so, 
should also be aut
horised to ratify or to accede to, as appropriate, alongside the Union the Geneva Act in the 
interest of the Union.
(9) At t he same time, this will allow to ensure the continuity of rights resulting from the existing membership of 
seven Member States in the Special Union.
(10) The ratification or accession by the Member States should however fully respect the exclusive competence of the 
U
nion, and the Union should remain responsible for ensuring the exercise of the rights and fulfilment of the 
obligations of the Union and the Member States under the Geneva Act.
(11) In the Special Union, the Union and those Member States having ratified or acceded to the Geneva Act are repre­
sent
ed by the Commission in accordance with Article 17(1)  of the Treaty on European Union (TEU),
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
The accession of t he European Union to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geo­
graphical Indications (‘the Geneva Act’) is hereby approved on behalf of the Union.
The text of the Geneva Act is attached to this Decision.
Article 2
The President of t he Council shall designate the person empowered to deposit, on behalf of the Union, the instrument 
of accession provided for in point (ii) of Article 28(2)  of t he Geneva Act, in order to express the consent of the Union 
to be bound by the Geneva Act, as well as to make the declaration and notification attached to the instrument of acces­
sion provided for in Article 5  of this Decision.
Article 3
Member S tates which wish to do so, are hereby authorised to ratify or accede to, as appropriate, alongside the Union, 
the Geneva Act in the interest of the Union and in full respect of its exclusive competence.
Article 4
1. In t he Special Union, the Union and any Member States which ratifies or accedes to the Geneva Act pursuant to 
Article 3  of t his Decision shall be represented by the Commission in accordance with Article 17(1)  TEU . The Union 
shall be responsible for ensuring the exercise of the rights and fulfillment of the obligations of the Union and of the 
Member States which ratify or accede to the Geneva Act pursuant to Article 3  of this Decision.
The Commission shall mak e all the necessary notifications under the Geneva Act on behalf of the Union and those 
Member States.24.10.2019 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 271/13In par ticular, the Commission shall be designated as the Competent Authority referred to in Article 3  of t he Geneva 
Act, responsible for the administration of the Geneva Act in the territory of the Union and for communications with 
the International Bureau of the WIPO under the Geneva Act and the Common Regulations under the Lisbon Agreement 
and the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement (the ‘Common Regulations ’).
2. The Union shall vote in the Assembly of the Special Union and the Member States which have ratified or acceded 
t
o the Geneva Act shall not exercise their right to vote.
Article 5
In accor dance with Article 29(4)  of t he Geneva Act, a declaration att ached to the instrument of accession shall specify 
an extension by one year of the time limit referred to in Article 15(1)  of the Geneva Act, and the periods referred to in 
Article 17  of the Geneva Act, in accordance with the procedures specified in the Common Regulations.
In accor dance with point (a) of R ule 5(3) of the Common Regulations, a notification t o the Director-General of WIPO 
attached to the instrument of accession shall specify the requirement that, for the protection of a registered appellation 
of or
igin or geographical indication in the territory of the Union, the application shall, in addition to the mandatory 
contents set out in Rule 5(2) of the Common Regulations, indicate particulars concerning, in the case of an appellation 
of origin, the quality or characteristics of the good and its connection with the geographical environment of the geo­
graphical area of production, and, in the case of a geographical indication, the quality, reputation or other characteristic 
of the good and its connection with the geographical area of origin.
Article 6
This Decision shall ent er into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Jour nal of the 
European Union.
Done at Luxembourg, 7 October  2019 .
For the Council
The President
A.-M. HENRIKSSONL 271/14 EN Official Journal of the European Union 24.10.2019