What changed between the draft committee report and the plenary report

Article 14 – paragraph 2: 2. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 84 supplementing this Regulation by provisions clarifying the requirements of the accompanying documentation to be supplied.

Change 4

Added:Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point -a (new): (-a) the product specification referred to in Article 11;

Article 15 – paragraph 6: deleted

Change 5

Changed:Article 1716 – paragraph 2:1: 2.1. ScrutinyA shallUnion notapplication exceedfor athe periodregistration of 5 months. Ina dulygeographical justifiedindication cases,shall thebe scrutinysubmitted periodto maythe beCommission extendedelectronically, bythrough a maximum ofdigital 3system. months.The Indigital thesystem eventshall thathave the scrutinycapacity periodto isallow extendedthe orsubmission isof likelyapplications to be extendedcompetent theauthorities Commissionof shalla informMember theState, applicantand ofmay thebe reasonsused forby the delayMember State in writing.its national procedure.

Change 6

Added:Article 17 – title: Examination by the Commission and publication for opposition

Added:Article 17 – paragraph 1: 1. The Commission shall examine any application for registration that it receives pursuant to Article 16(1). The Commission shall verify that there are no manifest errors, that the information provided in accordance with Article 15 is complete and that the single document referred to in Article 13 is precise. The Commission shall take into account the outcome of the national procedure carried out by the Member State concerned.

Added:Article 17 – paragraph 2: 2. Subject to paragraph 3, the examination period shall not exceed five months from the date of submission of the application for registration. / That examination period shall not include the period which starts on the date on which the Commission sends its observations or a request for supplementary information to the Member State, and ends on the date on which the Member State responds to the Commission in relation to such observations or to such a request. / In duly justified cases, the examination period may be extended by a maximum of three months. In the event that the examination period is extended or is likely to be extended, the Commission shall inform the applicant of the reasons for the delay in writing and of the date on which the examination period is expected to end.

Added:Article 17 – paragraph 3: 3. Within three months following the submission of the application for registration, the Commission may seek supplementary information from the competent authority or from the applicant.

Added:Article 17 – paragraph 4: 4. Where, based on the examination carried out pursuant to paragraph 1, the Commission considers that the conditions laid down in this Regulation and in Regulations (EU) No 1308/2013 and (EU) 2019/787, as appropriate, are fulfilled, it shall publish in the Official Journal of the European Union the single document and the reference to the publication of the product specification.

Article 17 – paragraph 5: deleted

Change 7

Removed:Article 18 – paragraph 2 – introductory part: 2. The Commission shall be exempted from the obligation to meet the deadline to perform the scrutiny referred to in Article 17(2) where it receives a communication from a Member State, concerning an application for registration in accordance with Article 9(6), which:

Added:Article 18 – paragraph 1: 1. Member States shall immediately inform the Commission of any national administrative or judicial proceedings that may affect the registration of a geographical indication.

Added:Article 18 – paragraph 2 – introductory part: 2. The Commission shall be exempted from the obligation to meet the deadline to perform the examination referred to in Article 17(2) where it receives a communication from a Member State, concerning an application for registration in accordance with Article 9(6), which:

Added:Article 18 – paragraph 2 – point b: (b) requests the Commission to suspend the examination because national administrative or judicial proceedings have been initiated to challenge the validity of the application and the Member State considers that those proceedings are based on valid grounds. / The Commission shall inform the applicant of the reasons for the delay.

Added:Article 18 – paragraph 3: 3. The exemption provided for in paragraph 2 shall have effect until the Commission is informed by the competent authority of the Member State that the original application has been restored or that the Member State withdraws its request for suspension.

Added:Article 18 – paragraph 4: 4. If the application has been invalidated by a final decision taken by a national court, the competent authority of the Member State shall consider appropriate action such as withdrawal or modification of the Union application for registration, as necessary.

Article 19 – paragraph 1: 1. Within 3 months from the date of publication in the Official Journal of the European Union of the single document and the reference to the product specification pursuant to Article 17(4), the authorities of a Member State or of a third country, or a natural or legal person having a legitimate interest, established or resident in a third country, may lodge an opposition with the Commission.

Article 19 – paragraph 2: 2. Any natural or legal person having a legitimate interest, established or resident in a Member State other than the one from which the Union application for registration was submitted, may lodge an opposition with the Member State, in which it is established or resident, within a time limit permitting an opposition to be lodged pursuant to paragraph (1).

Change 8

Added:Article 19 – paragraph 4: 4. The Commission shall examine the admissibility of the opposition. If the Commission considers that the opposition is admissible, it shall, within 5 months from the date of publication in the Official Journal of the European Union and, within 30 days from the date of receipt of that opposition, invite the authority or the person that lodged the opposition and the authority or the applicant producer group that lodged the application, in writing, to engage in appropriate consultations for a reasonable period that shall not exceed 3 months. At any time during that period, the Commission may, at the request of the authority or the applicant producer group, extend the deadline for the consultations by a maximum of 3 months.

Added:Article 19 – paragraph 6: 6. Within 1 month from the end of the consultations referred to in paragraph (4), the applicant producer group established in the third country or the competent authorities of the Member State or of the third country from which the Union application for registration was lodged shall notify the Commission of the result of the consultations, including all the information exchanged, whether agreement was reached with one or all of the opponents, and of any consequent changes to the application for registration. The authority or person that lodged an opposition to the Commission may also notify the Commission of its position at the end of the consultations.

Added:Article 19 – paragraph 7: 7. Where, following the end of the consultations referred to in paragraph (4), the data published in accordance with Article 17(4) have been modified, the Commission shall repeat its examination of the application for registration as modified. Where the application for registration has been modified in a substantial manner, and the Commission considers that the modified application meets the conditions for registration, it shall publish the application once more in accordance with that paragraph.

Added:Article 19 – paragraph 9: 9. After completion of the opposition procedure, the Commission shall finalise its assessment of the Union application for registration, taking into account any request for transitional periods, the outcome of the opposition procedure, and any other matters arising subsequently to its examination that may imply a change of the single document.

Article 19 – paragraph 10: 10. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 84 supplementing this Regulation by detailed procedures and deadlines for the opposition procedure, for the official submission of comments by national authorities and persons with a legitimate interest, which will not trigger the opposition procedure.

Change 9

Added:Article 20 a (new): Article 20a / Notice of comment procedure / 1. In order to correct inaccuracies in an ongoing registration procedure for a geographical indication, a competent authority of a Member State or of a third country, or a natural or legal person having a legitimate interest and established or resident in a third country or in another Member State, may lodge a notice of comment with the Commission within three months from the date of publication of the single document and the product specification reference in the Union register. / 2. The notice of comment referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall not be based on the grounds for opposition referred to in Article 19. The competent authority or person that lodges a notice of comment shall not be considered to be a party to the procedure. / 3. The Commission shall share the notice of comment with the applicant and shall take the notice of comment into consideration when deciding on the application of the registration, unless it is unclear or obviously incorrect. / 4. In order to facilitate the management of the notice of comment procedure, the Commission may adopt implementing acts laying down rules on the submission of such notice of comments and specifying their format and online presentation. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 53(2).

Added:Article 21 – paragraph 3 – introductory part: 3. The Commission may adopt implementing acts extending the transitional period granted under paragraph (1) up to 15 years, provided it is additionally shown that:

Added:The text is confusing. The amendment keeps the status quo.

Added:Article 21 – paragraph 5: 5. When using a designation referred to in paragraphs 1 and 3, the indication of the country of origin shall clearly and visibly appear on the labelling and, where applicable, on the production description when it is marketed on an online sales website.

Added:Article 21 – paragraph 6: 6. To overcome temporary difficulties with the long-term objective of ensuring that all producers of a product designated under a geographical indication in the area concerned comply with the related product specification, a Member State may grant a transitional period for compliance, of up to 10 years, with effect from the date on which the application is registered with the Commission, provided that the operators concerned have legally marketed the products in question, using the names concerned continuously for at least 5 years preceding the lodging of the application to the authorities of that Member State and have referred to that fact in the national opposition procedure referred to in Article 9(4).

Added:Article 22 – paragraph 1: 1. Where, on the basis of the information available to the Commission from the examination carried out pursuant to Article 17, the Commission considers that any of the requirements referred therein is not fulfilled, it shall adopt implementing acts rejecting the application for registration. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 53(2).

Article 22 – paragraph 2: 2. Where it receives no admissible opposition, the Commission shall adopt implementing acts, without applying the procedure referred to in Article 53(2), registering the geographical indication.

Change 10

Added:Article 22 – paragraph 3 – introductory part: 3. Where it receives an admissible and grounded opposition, the Commission shall, following the consultations referred to in Article 19(4) and taking into account the results thereof,

Added:Article 22 – paragraph 5: 5. Regulations of registration and decisions on rejection shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series and in the Union register of geographical indications.

Added:Article 23 – paragraph 1: 1. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts, without applying the procedure referred to in Article 53(2), containing provisions on establishing and maintaining an electronic register of geographical indications protected under this Regulation (the ‘Union register of geographical indications’), which shall be made easily accessible to the public and in a machine-readable format as defined in Article 2, point (13), of Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council.1a The register shall have three parts corresponding to geographical indications of wine, of spirit drinks and of agricultural products respectively. / 1a Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on open data and the re-use of public sector information (OJ L 172, 26.6.2019, p. 56).

Added:Article 23 – paragraph 1 a (new): 1a. The EUIPO shall maintain and keep the Union register up-to-date with respect to registrations, amendments and cancellations of geographical indications.

Added:Article 23 – paragraph 3: 3. Geographical indications concerning products from third countries that are protected in the Union under an international agreement to which the Union is a contracting party may be entered in the Union register of geographical indications. The Commission shall register such geographical indications by means of implementing acts adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 53(2) and shall make public the criteria used to decide upon the geographical indications protected under the relevant international agreement. As regards wine and agricultural products, unless specifically identified in those agreements as protected designations of origin, the names of such products shall be entered in the Union register of geographical indications as protected geographical indications.

Added:Article 23 – paragraph 5: 5. The EUIPO shall make public and, in the case of changes, update the list of the international agreements referred to in paragraph (3) as well as the list of geographical indications protected under those agreements.

Added:Article 23 – paragraph 6: 6. The Commission shall retain documentation related to the registration of a geographical indication in digital or paper form. In the case of cancellation or rejection, the Commission shall retain documentation for 10 years thereafter.

Added:Article 23 – paragraph 6 a (new): 6a. Once a new geographical indication or the modification of a previous geographical indication has been entered by the EUIPO in the Union register of geographical indications, the Commission shall, in its capacity as Competent Authority within the meaning of Article 3 of the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications (the ‘Geneva Act’), file an application for the international registration of the geographical indication thus entered in the Union register of geographical indications and which pertains to a product originating in the Union pursuant to Article 5(1) and (2) of the Geneva Act with the International Bureau of the World Organization for Intellectual Property. The fees to be paid under Article 7 of the Geneva Act, as specified in the Common Regulations under the Lisbon Agreement and the Geneva Act, shall be borne by the Member State in which that geographical indication originates.

Added:Article 23 – paragraph 7: deleted

Added:Article 24 – paragraph 1: 1. Any person shall be able to easily and free of charge download an official extract from the Union register of geographical indications that provides proof of registration or rejection of the geographical indication, and other relevant data including the date of application for the registration of the geographical indication or other priority date. The official extract shall be prepared in a machine-readable format as defined in Article 2, point (13), of Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council1a. That official extract may be used as an authentic certificate in legal proceedings, in a court of law, court of arbitration or similar body. / 1a Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on open data and the re-use of public sector information (OJ L 172, 26.6.2019, p. 56).

Added:Article 24 – paragraph 2: 2. Where a producer group has been recognised by the national authorities, or by a third country authority, in accordance with Article 33, that group shall be identified as the representative of producers of a product designated by a geographical indication in the Union register of geographical indications and in the official extract referred to in paragraph (1) of this Article.

Added:Article 24 – paragraph 3: 3. The Commission may adopt implementing acts setting out the online presentation of extracts from the Union register of geographical indications and which machine-readable format is to be used, and providing for the exclusion or anonymisation of protected personal data. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 53(2).

Article 25 – paragraph 1: 1. A recognised producer group may apply for the approval of an amendment to the product specification of a registered geographical indication.

Change 11

Changed:Article 25 – paragraph 1 a (new): 1a. Where a recognised producer group does not exist, a producer group having a legitimate interest or a single producer which is the only producer of a geographical indication may apply for the approval of an amendment to the product specification of a registered geographical indication.

Change 12

Added:Article 25 – paragraph 3 – introductory part: 3. An amendment shall be considered as a Union amendment if it entails a change of the single document and:

Article 25 – paragraph 3 – point a: (a) includes a change in the name; or

Change 13

Removed:Article 25 – paragraph 3 – point b: deleted

Added:Article 25 – paragraph 3 – point b: (b) where the scrutiny carried out by the relevant Member State under paragraph 2, point (b), has concluded that that amendment might void the link to the geographical area referred to in the single document; or

Change 14

Changed:Article 25 – paragraph 5: 5. A temporary amendment shall be considered as a standard amendment when it concerns a temporary change in the product specification resulting from the imposition of obligatory sanitary and phytosanitary measures by the public authorities or a temporary amendment necessary because of the consequences of a natural disaster, adverse weatherweather, conditionsgeopolitical events or exceptionalany geopolitcalother eventsexceptional conditions formally recognised by the competent authorities.

Change 15

Changed:Article 25 – paragraph 6: 6. Union amendments shall be scrutinisedassessed and approved by the Commission.Commission Thewithin three months from the application for the approval of an amendment to the product specification of a registered geographical indication. / Without prejudice to the first subparagraph of this paragraph, the approval procedure shall follow, mutatis mutandis, the procedure laid down fromin ArticleArticles 8 to 22. / Where the amendments concern the product specifications of a geographical indication registered in the International Register, Article 22.23(6a) shall apply, mutatis mutandis.

Change 16

Changed:Article 25 – paragraph 8: 8. If7: an7. applicationApplications for a Union amendment to the productamendments specificationsubmitted ofby a registeredthird geographicalcountry, indicationby alsoproducer includesgroups standardor, amendmentsin orexceptional temporaryand amendments,duly thejustified Commissioncases, shallby scrutiniseindividual theproducers Unionestablished amendmentin only.a Anythird standardcountry amendmentsshall orcontain temporaryproof amendmentsthat shallthe berequested deemedamendment ascomplies notwith havingthe beenlaws submitted.on Thethe scrutinyprotection of such applicationsgeographical shallindications focusin onforce thein proposedthat Unionthird amendments.country.

Change 17

Changed:Article 25 – paragraph 9:8: 9.8. StandardIf amendmentsan shallapplication befor scrutiniseda andUnion approvedamendment byto Memberthe Statesproduct orspecification thirdof countriesa inregistered whosegeographical territoryindication also includes standard amendments or temporary amendments, the geographicalCommission areashall ofexamine the productUnion concernedamendment isonly. locatedAny andstandard communicatedamendments toor thetemporary Commission.amendments shall be deemed as not having been submitted. The Commissionexamination of such applications shall makefocus thoseon amendmentsthe public.proposed Union amendments.

Change 18

Added:Article 25 – paragraph 9: 9. Standard amendments shall be assessed and approved by Member States or third countries in whose territory the geographical area of the product concerned is located and communicated to the Commission. The Commission shall make those amendments public by publishing them in the Official Journal of the European Union and in the Union register of geographical indications.

Article 25 – paragraph 10: deleted

Change 19

Changed:Article 26 – paragraph 1 – point b: (b) where no product has been placed on the market under the geographical indication forin atthe leastpreceding fiveseven consecutive years.

Change 20

Changed:Article 26 – paragraph 22: a2. (new):The 2a.Commission Aftermay theadopt cancellationimplementing ofacts cancelling the registration of a geographical indication,at the use and therequest protectionof asproducer anothergroup intellectualrepresenting propertya rightmajority of the registered nameproducers shallof bethe prohibitedproduct formarketed atunder leastthe 10registered years.name.

Change 21

Added:Article 26 – paragraph 2 a (new): 2a. The use and the protection of the registered name as another intellectual property right, in particular as a trade mark, shall be prohibited for 10 years after the cancellation of the registration of a geographical indication, unless such intellectual property right had existed, or such a trademark had been registered, before the registration of the geographical indication.

Added:Article 26 – paragraph 6: deleted

Article 27 – paragraph 1 – point a: (a) any direct or indirect commercial use of the geographical indication in respect of products not covered by the registration, where those products are comparable to the products registered under that name or where use of a name exploits, weakens, dilutes, or is detrimental to the reputation of, the protected name, including where those products are used as ingredients;

Change 22

Changed:Article 27 – paragraph 1 – point b: (b) any misuse, counterfeiting, imitation or evocation, even if the true origin of the products or services is indicated or if the protected name is translated,translated transcribed, transliterated or accompanied by an expression such as ‘style’, ‘type’, ‘method’, ‘as produced in’, ‘imitation’, ‘flavour’, ‘like’ or similar, including where those products are used as ingredients;