CELEX: C1996/318/42
Language: en
Date: 1996-10-26 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 10 September 1996 by Société des caves et des producteurs réunis de Roquefort and Others against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-140/96)

No C 318/24            EN                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                   26 . 10 . 96
— the applicant claims that the indication ' average ' rather          — order the Commission to pay the whole of the costs .
    than 'good ' knowledge of French is intended merely for
    guidance and is not a requirement for admission to the
    competition. Paragraph 8 ( 3 ) of the notice of                    Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support
    competition states that the third written test will 'consist
    of a number of questions intended to asess the ability to
    understand a text drafted in the applicant's second                Six French undertakings manufacturers of cheese preserved
    language' ( in this case, English ), while paragraph IX 2 ( a )    in brine made exclusively from ewe's milk which it markets
    specifies that knowledge of French will ' only' be taken           regularly as ' feta ', which is, moreover, a registered trade
    into account in the oral test .                                    mark, and a trade association whose members are the ewe's
                                                                       milk producers and the feta processors, challenge
                                                                       Commission Regulation ( EC ) No 1107/96 on the
Accordingly, marking the appropriate box under 'good' or               registration of geographical indications and designations of
'average' does not amount to an essential requirement for              origin under the procedure laid down in Article 17 of
admission to the competition but rather a mere criterion for           Council Regulation ( EEC ) No 2081 /92 and which provides
guidance to be taken into account when assessing                       that the name ' feta ' consitutes a registered designation of
knowledge of French in the oral test. Thus, supporting                 origin reserved to the Greek State .
documents relating to knowledge of languages are not
requested in the notice of competition, which leads to the
assumption that, on the contrary, such knowledge may be                Tha applicants consider that the Commission should not
verified only in the tests .                                           have agreed to apply as it did the exception provided for
                                                                       pursuant to Article 17 of the abovementioned Regulation
                                                                       inasmuch as the Greek application did not meet the
                                                                       conditions required by that Article since it relied on
                                                                       protection recently afforded at national level after the
                                                                       Council Regulation entered into force .
                                                                       The applicants further state that, according to the
                                                                       information available to them, feta cheese does not meet the
Action brought on 10 September 1996 by Société des caves               criteria laid down in order to benefit from protection as a
et des producteurs réunis de Roquefort and Others against              protected designation on the grounds that:
      the Commission of the European Communities
                        ( Case T-140/96 )
                                                                      — ' feta ' does not describe a product which originates in a
                          ( 96/C 318/42 )                                   specific region or place,
               (Language of the case: French)                         — the production, processing and preparation of 'feta ' do
                                                                            not take place in a defined geographical area ,
An action against the Commission of the European                      — the quality or characteristics of ' feta ' are not essentially
Communities was brought before the Court of First                           or exclusively due to a particular geographical
Instance of the European Communities on 10 September                       environment with its inherent natural and human
1996 by Société des caves et des producteurs réunis de                      factors, and
Roquefort, established in Roquefort-sur-Salzon ( France ),
Société fromagère corse, established in Bastia ( France ),
Société pour la valorisation du lait de Brebis du grand               — ' feta ' is a name that has become generic which , as such,
Sud-Ouest, established in La Canourgue ( France ),                         may not be protected .
Compagnie des fromages, established in Vire ( France ),
Fromager du Causse, established in Roquefort ( France ),
Alliance agro producteurs de lait de brebis et des industriels        Moreover, the applicants claim that, by accepting Greece's
de Roquefort ( France )- and Confédération générale des               application the Commission has disregarded the principal
producteurs de lait de brebis et des industriels de Roquefort,        objectives which had been entrusted to it by the Council,
established in Millau ( France ), represerited by Frédéric            namely, to improve the common agricultural policy in the
Ancel , of the Paris Bar, with an address for service in              interest of both producers and consumers . On the one hand,
Luxembourg at the Chambers of Pierrot Schiltz, 4 rue                  Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands produce and
Béatrix de Bourbon .                                                  market cheese under the disputed name, whereas Greece
                                                                      manufactures only half of the Community production . On
                                                                      the other, consumers are not better protected since the term
The applicant claims that the Court should :                          ' feta ' covers cheese prepared from ewe's, goat's or cow's
                                                                      milk or even a mixture of all three .
— annul Article 1 of Commission Regulation ( EC )
    No 1 107/96 of 12 June 1 996 in so far as it registers the
    name ' feta ' as a protected designation of origin,