G/TBT/W/595  
 
21 December 2018  
(18-8091) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 EUROPEAN UNION — QUALITY SCHEMES FOR AGR ICULTURAL PRODUCTS A ND 
FOODSTUFFS  
STATEMENT BY THE UNITED STATES  TO THE COMMITTEE ON  TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE  
14 AND 15 NOVEMBER 2 018 
The f ollowing communication, dated 21 December  2018, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the United States . 
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The United States would like to raise two issues with regard to the EU 's registration process for 
protected geographical indication (PGI) – first regarding the applications for "danbo " and "havarti " 
cheese, and second regarding the notification of G/TBT/N/EU/593.  
1  HAVARTI/DANBO APPLIC ATIONS:  
1.  First, the United States remains concerned with the registration of the  name "danbo " as a 
protected geographical indication (PGI), with a complete disregard for the international standard in 
Codex. Furthermore,  we feel the application under consideration for the name "havarti " also lacks 
transparency, particularly considering  the existing Codex standard for havarti. We reiterate that we 
found the EU 's consultation process with regard to these registrations unsatisfactory.  Moreover, our 
interventions at the TBT committee have not resulted in additional clarity.  In particular, w e seek to 
understand how the Commission considered the existing Codex standards for both danbo and 
havarti.  
2.  To that end, we would also like to redouble our opposition to the EU granting GI protection for 
havarti  because there is an international Codex Ali mentarius standard for havarti, which Codex 
members – including the EU – reconfirmed in 2007, 2008, and 2010.  
3.  The Council 's own decision on the EU 's accession to the Codex Alimentarius Commission affirms 
that "Codex standards have acquired increased legal  relevance by virtue of the reference made to 
Codex in the WTO Agreements and the presumption of conformity which is conferred on national 
measures when they are based on such standards. "  
4.  The EU and its Member States also supported and agreed to the Codex  Committee for Milk and 
Milk Product ' Individual Cheese standards, which contain labelling provisions under section 7 that 
preserve the generic nature and use of the names of these cheeses.  
5.  Both danbo and havarti underwent a rigorous review to prove their  use in public domain and 
international trade.  
6.  We again would like to ask if the Commission 's view of the legal relevance of Codex standards 
changed since the publication of the Council Decision?  
2  NEW NOTIFICATION OF EU/593  
7.  Second , we would like to better understand the EU 's pro posal to amend EU regulation 
NO 1151/2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs, as well as other G/TBT/W/595  
 
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  regulations pertaining to GIs outlined in TBT notification G/TBT/N/EU/593. We submitted comments 
on EU/593 on  19 October 2018.  
8.  In general, we are concerned about many of the proposed amendments, as they appear to 
exacerbate rather than alleviate our existing concerns.  We will highlight some of those concerns 
here, but seek further bilateral discussions on these iss ues. And per our comments, we urge the EU 
to rescind the elements of the Proposed Amendments that will exacerbate our concerns.  
a. The proposal appears to shift authority from the Commission to member states, giving 
member states greater flexibilities and con trol over GI applications.  We urge the 
Commission to retain this function without modification to ensure uniformity and 
predictability across the EU.   
b. More concretely, how would this proposal affect existing applications such as havarti?  
Would Denmark now take control of the application or will these proposals only apply to 
new applications?  
c. Under the new proposal, how will the EU Commission ensure member states adhere to 
TBT commitments including the use of international standards?  
9.  We are also concerned that the proposed extension of the "protection " of EU GIs to in -transit 
goods would exacerbate concerns the United States has regarding the negative market access effects 
of the EU 's protection and enforcement of GIs in the EU and third -country markets for  U.S. producers 
and traders. We are also concerned that the Proposed Amendments will truncate the opposition 
period on GI registrations.  
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