Schutzverband gegen Unwesen in der Wirtschaft eV v Warsteiner Brauerei Haus Cramer GmbH & Co. KG.
Date: 2000-11-07
41 In that regard, it must be observed that it is clear from the case-law of the Court that, in the absence of common rules relating to the production and marketing of a product, it is in principle for the Member States to regulate all matters relating to the marketing of that product on their own territory, including its description and labelling, subject to any Community measure adopted with a view to approximating national laws in these fields (Case 27/80 Fietje [1980] ECR 3839, paragraph 7).
43 According to Article 2(2)(b), Regulation No 2081/92 only concerns geographical indications in respect of which there is a direct link between both a specific quality, reputation or other characteristic of the product and its specific geographical origin (see, to that effect Pistre, cited above, paragraph 35).
44 It is common ground that simple geographical indications of source, in the case of which, in the terms used by the national court in its question, there is no link between the characteristics of the product and its geographical provenance, do not fall within that definition and are not therefore protected under Regulation No 2081/92.
45 However, there is nothing in Regulation No 2081/92 to indicate that such geographical indications of source cannot be protected under the national legislation of a Member State.
47 Moreover, in its judgment in Pistre, cited above, paragraphs 39 and 40, the Court has held that Regulation No 2081/92 does not preclude application of domestic rules protecting designations containing specific geographical references, which, if there were links between the characteristics of the products which those designations evoke and the geographical area to which they refer, could be registered under that regulation.
49 In that regard, it must be observed, first, that the purpose of Regulation No 2081/92 cannot be undermined by the application, alongside that regulation, of national rules for the protection of geographical indications of source which do not fall within its scope.
50 Second, Regulation No 2081/92 is intended to ensure uniform protection within the Community of the geographical designations which it covers and it introduced a requirement of Community registration so that they could enjoy protection in every Member State (see, to that effect, the judgment in Joined Cases C-129/97 and C-130/97 Chiciak and Fol [1998] ECR I-3315, paragraphs 25 and 26), whereas the national protection which a Member State confers on geographical designations which do not meet the conditions for registration under Regulation No 2081/92 is governed by the national law of that Member State and is confined to the territory of that Member State.
54 In view of the foregoing considerations, the answer to be given to the question referred to the Court must be that Regulation No 2081/92 does not preclude the application of national legislation which prohibits the potentially misleading use of a geographical indication of source in the case of which there is no link between the characteristics of the product and its geographical provenance.