European Council Committee Agrees On Higher Protection For Spirit Drinks, Takes GIs Beyond TRIPS

An agriculture committee of the European Council today adopted an agreement on labelling of spirit drinks, giving them higher protection by adding seven years to the World Trade Organization minimum intellectual property standard.

According to a Council of European Union member states press release, the Council’s Special Committee on Agriculture confirmed an agreement reached on 27 November on a regulation on the definition, description, presentation and labelling of spirit drinks, including their use in other foodstuffs and the protection of geographical indications.

“This is a very good day for the spirit drinks sector. Consumers will soon be able to benefit from clearer labelling of spirit drinks. At the same time, spirit drink producers will work on the basis of simpler and clearer production rules, as well as benefit from better protection of geographical indications (GIs),” said Elisabeth Köstinger, Austrian Federal Minister for Sustainability and Tourism and President of the Council. Austria holds the EU presidency till year’s end.

In particular, the regulation includes better protection for GIs against trademarks by granting seven additional years of protection compared to the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

The regulation also will preserve more traditional production methods, the release says.

Because the agreement has trade implications, it will be submitted to WTO members for comments during a 60-day period, after which it will be submitted to the European Parliament for a vote at first reading, and come back to the Council for adoption, according to the release.

The regulation is expected to enter into force in spring 2019, seven days after its publication on the Official Journal of the European Union, “and its applicability would be delayed two years, except for certain provisions which would apply two weeks from its entry into force (mostly provisions on GIs)…,” according to the release.

 

Image Credits: Flickr Chris Pople