Opinion on the proposal for a Parliament and Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 1576/89 laying down general rules on the definition, description and presentation of spirit drinks and Council Regulation (EEC) No 1601/91 laying down general rules on the definition, description and presentation of aromatized wines, aromatized wine-based drinks and aromatized wine-product cocktails following the Uruguay Round of the multilateral trade negotiations (94/C 397/16)

On 14 November 1994 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 100A of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the abovementioned proposal.

The Economic and Social Committee decided to appoint Mr Mayayo Bello as Rapporteur-General for its Opinion.

At its 320th Plenary Session (meeting of 24 November 1994), the Economic and Social Committee adopted the following Opinion by a large majority with one abstention.

1. General considerations

1.1. The Uruguay Round Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) requires signatories to provide legal means in respect of geographical designations, in order to prevent (a) the use of any designation liable to mislead the consumer as to the origin of a product and (b) any use which constitutes unfair competition.

1.2. The Committee regrets that the Commission is not showing greater stringency in transposing the TRIPs Agreements in the wines and spirits sector.

2. Comments

2.1. The Committee endorses the declared goal of protecting designations and marks of origin.

2.2. Paradoxically, the Commission's proposed amendments to the Regulations do not strengthen existing protection in any way.

2.3. Article 23 of the TRIPs Agreement requires members of the World Trade Organization to provide the legal means to prevent the use of geographical designations for products not originating in the place indicated. Article 23(1) lists such terms as 'kind', 'type' and 'imitation' which must not accompany a false geographical designation.

2.4. The draft Regulation merely transcribes the terms used in Article 23 of the Agreement. It ignores the fact that the list is not exhaustive and uses the words 'such as' to cover all those expressions which may be deployed for the fraudulent appropriation of geographical designations.

2.5. In this connection, the proposed Article 10a amending Regulation 1601/91 and Article 11a amending Regulation 1576/89 should add the term 'method' to the list, since this term is prohibited by Community law [Article 40 of Council Regulation (EEC) 2392/89].

2.6. Furthermore, Article 24(3) of the TRIPs Agreement stipulates that 'a Member shall not diminish the protection of geographical indications that existed in that Member immediately prior to the date of entry into force of the WTO Agreement'. Hence omission of the term 'method' could constitute a partial withdrawal of existing protection of geographical designations in the EU.

2.7. Given the importance of the use of these terms for the marketing of the products concerned, the Committee considers that it would be more appropriate to use the decision-making procedure laid down in Article 14 of Regulation 1576/89 and Article 15 of Regulation 1601/91, which gives the Member States a more active role.

2.8. The Committee is disappointed that the Commission has submitted such a weak and limited proposal for transposing the TRIPs Agreements in the wines and spirits sector. Articles 23 and 24 offer ample scope for interpretation, and thus need to be backed by legislative action to round off the rules on protection of geographical designations.

2.9. In particular, and with a view to minimizing any possible misuse of certain European designations of origin, the Committee feels that the proposal should contain appropriate legislative measures to regulate the exceptional cases mentioned in Article 24(4) of the Agreement. These measures should establish mechanisms for ensuring strict compliance with the requirement that an operator must have used the designation for at least ten years.

3. Lastly, in order to retain the overall consistency of the regulations governing the sector, these criteria should be incorporated in the amended version of Regulation 822/87 on the common organization of the wine market.

Done at Brussels, 24 November 1994.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Carlos FERRER