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Assocantuccini, Consorzio per la Tutela dei Cantuccini Toscani IGP

Assocantuccini

IGP, promuove la conoscenza del prodotto Cantuccini Toscani tra i consumatori italiani ed europei

Lobbying Activity

Response to Revision of the EU geographical indications(GI) systems in agricultural products and foodstuffs, wines and spirit drinks

22 Jun 2022

Having read the Proposal of European Regulation on Geographical Indications, we would like to stress how the issue of sustainability is not a question concerning in a special way the producers of GIs, as asserted under point 12 of the preliminary considerations, but an horizontal one, concerning rather the whole food sector. On the contrary, GI producers are already committed to an economic and socially sustainable value chain located in the territory, because of the PDO/PGI shared product specifications. They cannot and should not undergo additional requirements or burdens, forcing them to modify product specification as envisaged in art. 12 (especially 12.2), with all the costs that this operation implies. Secondly, we want to consider the EUIPO involvement in the procedure of registration and protection of GIs (preliminary considerations n. 39 and 40) a progress, in terms of speed, efficiency and cost reduction for producers. At the same time, however, we would like more clearly stated into the proposal that GIs are more than ordinary Intellectual Property Rights: they are a public good and as such they need to be defined and protected. Finally, concerning producer groups, we find that two criteria for the obtainment of the “recognition” status (Art. 33.2) are redundant and excessive for the protection of the collective good/GI. We stay for representation of “at least two-thirds of the producers of the product bearing a geographical indication”, as unique standard.
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