Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1235 of 12 May 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/787 of the European Parliament and of the Council with rules concerning applications for registration of geographical indications of spirit drinks, amendments to product specifications, cancellation of the registration and the register

• Date of Signature: 12 May 2021
• Published date: 29 July 2021
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Union, L 270, 29 July 2021

29.7.2021 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 270/1

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COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2021/1235

of 12 May 2021

supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/787 of the European Parliament and of the Council with rules concerning applications for registration of geographical indications of spirit drinks, amendments to product specifications, cancellation of the registration and the register

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2019/787 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the definition, description, presentation and labelling of spirit drinks, the use of the names of spirit drinks in the presentation and labelling of other foodstuffs, the protection of geographical indications for spirit drinks, the use of ethyl alcohol and distillates of agricultural origin in alcoholic beverages, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 (1), and in particular Article 33(1) and (2) and Article 41 thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EU) 2019/787 repealed and replaced Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2). Chapter III of Regulation (EU) 2019/787 lays down rules on geographical indications in the spirit drinks sector and empowers the Commission to adopt delegated and implementing acts in that respect. In order to ensure the smooth functioning of the market of spirit drinks in the new legal framework and in particular to simplify and rationalise the functioning of geographical indications system for spirit drinks, certain rules have to be adopted by means of such acts. In particular, this Regulation and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1236 (3) should replace part of the provisions of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 716/2013 (4), which should therefore be repealed.

(2) In order to facilitate the Commission’s scrutiny and to provide full information to the parties concerned in the opposition procedure, where the product specification includes specific requirements on packaging, the single document included in the application for registration of a geographical indication should contain a summary of the justification showing why the packaging must take place in the defined geographical area to safeguard quality, ensure the origin or ensure control of the spirit drink.

(3) For the sake of consistency of the procedure and in order to facilitate the Commission’s scrutiny, a Member State should guarantee that the single document is a faithful summary of the product specification on which the Commission may rely when assessing the application and on which other Member States and stakeholders may rely for the purposes of enforcement of the geographical indication. For the same reasons, the publication reference of the product specification included in the application dossier submitted to the Commission by the Member States should consist of the electronic reference to the product specification as published according to the Member State’s administrative system.

(4) The information to be submitted in order for an application for protection, an application for approval of a Union amendment or a request for cancellation to be deemed admissible should be set out in order to facilitate the management of such applications or requests and to speed up their examination.

(5) In order to overcome temporary difficulties and to ensure that all producers comply with the product specifications in the long term, Member States should be allowed to grant producers transitional periods up to 10 years to adapt to the changes of certain rules on the product specification.

(6) The Commission is responsible for the approval of Union amendments to the product specification, while standard amendments are approved by the Member States or by the responsible person or body in a third country. For the efficiency of the procedure, when an application for approval of a Union amendment also contains standard amendments, standard amendments should be deemed as not existing and should not be considered as approved in the context of the Union amendment.

(7) The procedure for the approval of standard amendments and temporary amendments should be established to allow Member States to carry out an appropriate assessment of the applications and to guarantee a consistent approach across Member States. The accuracy and exhaustiveness of the assessment by the Member States should be equivalent to the accuracy and exhaustiveness required for the assessment process within the procedure governing applications for registration of a geographical indication.

(8) It is necessary to lay down rules to establish coordination between the procedures for amendments to a product specification in cases where applications concerning a Union amendment and a standard amendment are pending at the same time before the Commission and the Member State’s competent authority, respectively. Since both applications amend the same product specification, while following two different parallel procedures having a different timing, rules should be laid down that avoid inconsistencies.

(9) The rules on the procedure for cancellation of the registration of a geographical indication should be supplemented to clarify that Member States are among the legal persons that may have a legitimate interest in submitting a request for cancellation under the first subparagraph of Article 32(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/787 and to specify the exact references to the Official Journal of the European Union where the publication is made.

(10) To ensure transparency and uniformity across Member States, it is necessary to establish the electronic register of geographical indications of spirit drinks referred to in Article 33 of Regulation (EU) 2019/787 (‘the register’) and to adopt further rules on the content and the form of the register. In particular, since the documents available, and to be made available, for each registered name differ depending on the legal basis under which they were first protected, the requirements for those documents should be adapted accordingly. In order to allow priority dates concerning other intellectual property rights to be determined, the register should indicate the date of an application for registration and the date and publication reference of the instrument protecting the geographical indication. The register should be an electronic database managed within digital systems made available by the Commission, and should be accessible to the public,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER I

Introductory provision

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation lays down rules supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/787 as regards geographical indications of spirit drinks, and in particular concerning:

(a) applications for registration;

(b) amendments to product specifications;

(c) cancellation of the registration;

(d) the register of the geographical indications.

CHAPTER II

Specific provisions

SECTION 1

APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION

Article 2

(Delegated power Article 41(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2019/787) Additional requirements for the single document

Where the single document referred to in point (c) of Article 23(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/787 includes specific requirements on packaging, a summary of the justification referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 22(1) of that Regulation shall also be included.

Article 3

(Delegated power Article 41(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2019/787) Member State’s application dossier

When submitting an application dossier to the Commission in accordance with Article 24(7) of Regulation (EU) 2019/787, the Member State concerned shall certify that the single document referred to in Article 23(2)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2019/787 is a faithful summary of the product specification. The Member State shall be responsible for any material divergences between the single document and the product specification. The application dossier shall include the electronic reference of the publication of the product specification.

Article 4

(Delegated power Article 41(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2019/787) Admissibility of the application

1. An application for registration shall be considered admissible if it has been submitted in accordance with Article 24 of Regulation (EU) 2019/787 and communicated to the Commission in accordance with Article 13(1) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1236, including the single document drawn up in accordance with Article 3 of that Implementing Regulation, and if it is complete.

An application for registration shall be considered complete when it complies with Articles 22 and 23 of Regulation (EU) 2019/787 and Articles 2 and 3 of this Regulation.

2. If the Commission considers that an application is inadmissible, it shall inform the authorities of the Member State or the third country concerned or the applicant established in a third country, as the case may be, of the reasons for the inadmissibility.

Article 5

(Delegated power Article 41(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2019/787) National transitional period

1. To overcome temporary difficulties, with the long term objective of ensuring that all producers in the area concerned comply...