Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
I. REGISTER OF PROTECTED DESIGNATIONS OF ORIGIN AND PROTECTED
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
1. The Register
Article 11(1) provides that the Commission shall adopt implementing acts,
without applying the procedure referred to in Art 57(2), establishing and
maintaining a publicly accessible updated register of PDOs and PGIs recog-
nised under this scheme.
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2. Registration of third country geographical indications
Recital (27) explains that the Union negotiates international agreements,
including those concerning the protection of designations of origin and GIs,
with its trade partners. In order to facilitate the provision to the public of
information about the names so protected, and in particular to ensure protec-
tion and control of the use to which those names are put, the names may be
entered in the register of PDOs and PGIs.
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Article 11(2) provides that geographical indications pertaining to products of
third countries that are protected in the Union under an international agree-
ment to which the Union is a contracting party may be entered in the register.
Unless specifically identified in the said agreement as PDOs under this
Regulation, such names shall be entered in the register as PGIs.
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A recent illustration of a third country registration under the Regulation is for
Thai Hom Mali rice (Khao Hom Mali Thung Kula Rong-Hai).
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An appli-
cation had been made to register this designation pursuant to Art 6(2) of
Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006. This had been objected to by Belgium,
France, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK, because it contained the require-
ment that packaging should take place in the area of production,
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which the
objecting nations considered inadequately justified or unnecessarily restrictive.
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Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 120/2013 of 11 February 2013 entering a name in the
register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications (Khao Hom Mali Thung
Kula Rong-Hai) (PGI) OJ L 41/3 12.2.2013.
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The packaging requirement was that it 'shall take place in Roi Et, Surin, Sisaket, Mahasarakham, and
Yasothon Provinces, which are the five provinces of the Thung Kula Rong-Hai area. This is to give consumers
an effective guarantee of the origin, the quality of the rice and in order to ensure the retention of
2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (0,1-0,2 micrograms at the growing field), unique to Khao Hom Mali grown within the
identified geographical area. The repackaging is not allowed in order to minimise possible dilution in
concentration, which would undermine its distinctive aroma and to prevent any possible contamination or
alteration of the product.' Ibid, clause 3.6.
