Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
referred to in paragraph 1, that are produced or marketed in that Member State.
To that end Member States shall designate the authorities that are responsible
for taking these steps in accordance with procedures determined by each
individual Member State.
These authorities shall offer adequate guarantees of objectivity and impartiality, and
shall have at their disposal the qualified staff and resources necessary to carry out their
functions.
L. RIGHT TO BRING AN ACTION IN RESPECT OF A GEOGRAPHICAL
INDICATION
Under Art 173 of the EC Treaty, a natural or legal person may bring an action
against a decision which, although in the form of a regulation, is of direct and
individual concern to him. Registering a PDO or a PGI gives all economic
operators whose products satisfy the prescribed geographical and quality
requirements, as they appear from the specification referred to in Art 7 of the
Regulation and annexed to the application for registration, the right to market
them under the protected name. It thus produces legal effects for economic
operators who satisfy the relevant conditions.
3.165
In Case C-447/98
113
two cheese companies objected to the adoption by the
German authorities, on 20 December 1993, of regulations on cheese in which
the name 'ALTENBURGER ZIEGENKÄSE' was identified as a designation
of origin and which by letter of 26 January 1994 the Federal Republic of
Germany had requested the Commission to register the name as a PDO
pursuant to Art 17 of Regulation No 2081/92. By the adoption of Regulation
No 123/97, the Commission registered inter alia the name 'ALTENBURGER
ZIEGENKÄSE' as a PDO within the meaning of Regulation No 2081/92.
The appellants argued that the geographical area defined in the German
regulations on cheese and the request for registration made to the Commission
as the area of manufacture of 'ALTENBURGER ZIEGENKÄSE' was too
extensive. The Appeal Court sustained the decision of the court of first instance
that Regulation No 123/97 concerned the appellants only in their objective
capacity of undertakings producing the cheese in question in the geographical
area defined in the specification and marketing it, on the same basis as any other
economic operator currently or potentially in the same position and they could
not therefore complain about whether other undertakings might be included in
that designation.
3.166
113
Molkerei Großbraunshain and Bene Nahrungsmittel v Commission
[1998] ECR II-3533.
