Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Agriculture – Uniform laws – Protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs – Regulation No 2081/92 – Protection of a non-geographical traditional name as a designation of origin – Requirement of a link between the characteristics of a product and its geographical origin – Place or region of origin – Definition according to natural factors distinguishing it from the areas adjoining it

(Council Regulation No 2081/92, Art. 2(2)(a) and (3))

2. Agriculture – Uniform laws – Protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs – Regulation No 2081/92 – Names that have become generic – Criteria for assessment – Taking into account of the marketing of a product under a name in some Member States – Lawfulness

(Council Regulation No 2081/92, Art. 3(1))

3. Acts of the Community institutions – Statement of reasons – Obligation – Scope – Regulation including the entry of the name ‘feta’ in the register of protected designations of origin

(Art. 253 EC; Commission Regulation No 1829/2002)

Summary

1. In order to be protected as an ‘appellation of origin’ under Article 2(3) of Regulation No 2081/92 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs, a traditional non-geographical name must, inter alia, designate an agricultural product or a foodstuff ‘originating in a region or a specific place’. That provision, moreover, in referring to the second indent of Article 2(2)(a) of the same regulation, requires that the quality or characteristics of the agricultural product or foodstuff be essentially or exclusively due to a particular geographical environment with its inherent natural and human factors, and that the production, processing and preparation of that product take place in the defined geographical area.

It follows from a combined reading of those two provisions that the place or region referred to in Article 2(3) must be defined as a geographical environment with specific natural and human factors and which is capable of giving an agricultural product or foodstuff its specific characteristics. The area of origin referred to must, therefore, present homogenous natural factors which distinguish it from the areas adjoining it.

(see paras 48-50)

2. The fact that a product has been lawfully marketed under a name in some Member States may constitute a factor which must be taken into account in the assessment of whether that name has become generic within the meaning of Article 3(1) of Regulation No 2081/92 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs.

(see para. 79)

3. The statement of reasons required by Article 253 EC must be appropriate to the nature of the measure in question and must show clearly and unequivocally the reasoning of the institution which enacted the measure, so as to inform the persons concerned of the justification for the measure adopted and to enable the Court to exercise its powers of review. The institution which adopted the act is not required, however, to define its position on matters which are plainly of secondary importance or to anticipate potential objections.

The Commission’s discussion, in the 11th to the 33rd recitals in the preamble to Regulation No 1829/2002 including the name ‘feta’ in the register of protected designations of origin, constitutes a sufficient statement of reasons for the purposes of Article 253 EC of the essential factors which led it to the conclusion that the name ‘feta’ was not generic within the meaning of Article 3 of Regulation No 2081/92 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs.

(see paras 106-107)