Information notice — Public consultation — Geographical indications from Australia
Date: 2017-01-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Australia, consumer information, designation of origin, public consultation, trade mark, wine








C_2017003EN.01000801.xml










6.1.2017   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 3/8





INFORMATION NOTICE — PUBLIC CONSULTATION
Geographical indications from Australia
(2017/C 3/09)
Within the framework of the Agreement between the European Community and Australia on trade in wine (1) (hereafter ‘the Agreement’), Australia has submitted a request for protection in the European Union (EU) of four Geographical Indications which are protected in Australia.
The European Commission is currently considering whether these Geographical Indications shall be protected under the Agreement as Geographical Indications within the meaning of Article 22(1) of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.
The Commission invites any Member State or third country or any natural or legal person having a legitimate interest, resident or established in a Member State or in a third country, to submit oppositions to such protection by lodging a duly substantiated statement.
Statements of opposition must reach the Commission within two months of the date of this publication. Statements of opposition should be sent to the following email address: AGRI-A2@ec.europa.eu
Statements of opposition shall be examined only if they are received within the time limit set out above and if they show that the protection of the name proposed would:






(a)


conflict with the name of a plant variety or an animal breed and as a result is likely to mislead the consumer as to the true origin of the product;










(b)


be wholly or partially homonymous with that of a name already protected in the Union under Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products (2) or contained in the agreements the Union has concluded with the following countries:






—


Republic of Albania: Council Decision 2006/580/EC of 12 June 2006 concerning the signing and conclusion of the Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters between the European Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Albania, of the other part (3) (Protocol 3 on reciprocal preferential concessions for certain wines, the reciprocal recognition, protection and control of wine, spirit drinks and aromatised wine names),










—


Bosnia and Herzegovina: Council Decision 2008/474/EC of 16 June 2008 on the conclusion of an Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters between the European Community, of the one part, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the other part (4),










—


Canada: Council Decision 2004/91/EC of 30 July 2003 on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Community and Canada on trade in wines and spirit drinks (5),










—


Republic of Chile: Council Decision 2002/979/EC of 18 November 2002 on the signature and provisional application of certain provisions of an Agreement establishing an association between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Chile, of the other part (6),










—


the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: Council Decision 2001/916/EC of 3 December 2001 on the conclusion of an Additional Protocol adjusting the trade aspects of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Community and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, to take account of the outcome of the negotiations between the parties on reciprocal preferential concessions for certain wines, the reciprocal recognition, protection and control of wine names and the reciprocal recognition, protection and control of designations for spirits and aromatised drinks (7),










—


Montenegro: Council Decision 2007/855/EC of 15 October 2007 concerning the conclusion of the Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters between the European Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Montenegro, of the other part (8),










—


Republic of South Africa: Council Decision 2002/51/EC of 21 January 2002 concerning the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of South Africa on trade in wine (9),










—


Swiss Confederation: Decision of the Council, and of the Commission 2002/309/EC, Euratom as regards the Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation, of 4 April 2002 on the conclusion of seven Agreements with the Swiss Confederation (10), and in particular the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Federation on trade in agricultural products — Annex 7 (11),










—


United States of America: Council Decision 2006/232/EC of 20 December 2005 on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Community and the United States of America on trade in wine (12);














(c)


in the light of a trademark’s reputation and renown and the length of time it has been used, be liable to mislead the consumer as to the true identity of the product;










(d)


jeopardise the existence of an entirely or partly identical name or of a trademark or the existence of products which have been legally on the market for at least five years preceding the date of the publication of this notice;










(e)


or if they can give details from which it can be concluded that the name for which protection is considered is generic.




The criteria referred to above shall be evaluated in relation to the territory of the Union, which in the case of intellectual property rights refers only to the territory or territories where the said rights are protected. The eventual protection of these names in the European Union is subject to their inclusion in Annex II of the Agreement between the European Community and Australia on trade in wine.

List of Geographical Indications for wines
 (13)







Description of products


Name as registered in Australia




Wine


New England Australia




Wine


Pokolbin




Wine


Upper Hunter Valley




Wine


Mount Gambier






(1)  OJ L 86, 31.3.1994, p. 3.

(2)  OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 671.

(3)  OJ L 239, 1.9.2006, p. 1.

(4)  OJ L 169, 30.6.2008, p. 10.

(5)  OJ L 35, 6.2.2004, p. 1.

(6)  OJ L 352, 30.12.2002, p. 1.

(7)  OJ L 342, 27.12.2001, p. 6.

(8)  OJ L 345, 28.12.2007, p. 1.

(9)  OJ L 28, 30.1.2002, p. 3.

(10)  OJ L 114, 30.4.2002, p. 132.

(11)  OJ L 114, 30.4.2002, p. 132.

(12)  OJ L 87, 24.3.2006, p. 1.

(13)  List provided by Australia, in the framework of the Agreement between the European Community and Australia on trade in wine.