Revising the EU geographical indications for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products

This briefing provides an initial analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the European Commission's impact assessment (IA) accompanying the above-mentioned proposal, submitted on 31 March 2022 and referred to the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI). Geographical indications (GIs) are names that identify products having characteristics or reputation linked to their geographical origin and notably to the natural or human factors in that place of origin. GIs are protected as intellectual property rights (IPRs) to promote fair competition by preventing unlawful uses. The GIs under the EU food quality schemes are: 1) protected designations of origin (PDOs), e.g. prosciutto di Parma, 2) protected geographical indications (PGIs), with a less strong link to the region, and 3) GIs of spirit drinks and aromatised wine, e.g. Irish whiskey. In addition to this, traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG) applies to food and agricultural products' traditional methods of production (not a specific geographical area), e.g. Geuze bier. The proposal aims to strengthen the GI legislative framework and to facilitate the take up of GIs across the Union, as intellectual property instruments accessible to all farmers and producers of products. The proposal was first announced in the European Green Deal, and then confirmed in the farm to fork strategy and the intellectual property action plan. The Commission included the present proposal in Annex II of its 2021 work programme (REFIT initiatives).