Brussels, 27 October 2023 – The European Committee of Wine Companies (Comité Vins – CEEV) welcomes EU co-legislators provisional deal aimed at strengthening geographical indications (GIs) for wine, spirits and agricultural product. While still waiting for the publication of the final wording we believe the agreement will bring tangible benefits to wine GIs protection system while safeguarding wine specificities.
“EU wine companies welcome the political agreement on the revision of the EU GI system reached by EU co-legislators,” said Mauricio González Gordon, President of CEEV. “The deal will provide a solid and comprehensive approach for the reinforcement of the legal framework applying to GI wines. This approach will secure that EU quality scheme continues to offer a clear added value for the wine sector” he added.
The revised rules will improve the existing system thanks to:
- a simplified and more efficient registration procedure;
- greater protection of geographical indications, including online, in domain names that contain geographical indications. The deal also offers protection in the case of GIs that are ingredients in prepacked food;
- a reinforced role for producer groups;
- a greater emphasis on sustainability. For wines, producer groups will be able to agree on sustainability practices that go beyond Union or national standards;
To do so, certain provisions related to wine that are currently covered by the Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation will be included in the scope of the new regulation.
“We thank negotiators for the hard work, and specially the European Parliament rapporteur MEP Paolo de Castro, his team and the shadow rapporteurs. The European Parliament saw from the beginning the unique opportunity offered by the GI scheme revision to strengthen the protection of wine GIs while preserving its specificities. Happily, this vision was preserved during the negotiations.” said Ignacio Sánchez Recarte, Secretary General of CEEV. “We will be waiting for the publication of the official text to assess in detail the concrete impact of the agreement on the EU wine sector” he added.
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NOTE TO EDITORS
Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins (CEEV – www.ceev.eu) represents the wine companies in the industry and trade in the European Union: still wines, aromatised wines, sparkling wines, liqueur wines and other vine products. It brings together 25 national organisations and its members produce and market the vast majority of quality European wines, with and without a geographical indication, and account for over 90% of European wine exports.