Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs

• Published date: 14 December 2019
• Official Gazette Publication: Gazzetta ufficiale dell’Unione europea, L 343, 14 dicembre 2012,Journal officiel de l’Union européenne, L 343, 14 décembre 2012,Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea, L 343, 14 de diciembre de 2012

02012R1151 — EN — 08.06.2022 — 003.001

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►B REGULATION (EU) No 1151/2012 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 21 November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs (OJ L 343 14.12.2012, p. 1)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
►M1	REGULATION (EU) 2017/625 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 15 March 2017	L 95	1	7.4.2017
►M2	REGULATION (EU) 2021/2117 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 2 December 2021	L 435	262	6.12.2021

Corrected by:

►C1	Corrigendum, OJ L 055, 27.2.2013, p. 27 (1151/2012)
►C2	Corrigendum, OJ L 137, 24.5.2017, p. 40 (2017/625)

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REGULATION (EU) No 1151/2012 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 21 November 2012

on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs

TITLE I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Objectives

1.

This Regulation aims to help producers of agricultural products and foodstuffs to communicate the product characteristics and farming attributes of those products and foodstuffs to buyers and consumers, thereby ensuring:

(a)

fair competition for farmers and producers of agricultural products and foodstuffs having value-adding characteristics and attributes;

(b)

the availability to consumers of reliable information pertaining to such products;

(c)

respect for intellectual property rights; and

(d)

the integrity of the internal market.

The measures set out in this Regulation are intended to support agricultural and processing activities and the farming systems associated with high quality products, thereby contributing to the achievement of rural development policy objectives.

2.

This Regulation establishes quality schemes which provide the basis for the identification and, where appropriate, protection of names and terms that, in particular, indicate or describe agricultural products with:

(a)

value-adding characteristics; or

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(b)

value-adding attributes resulting from the farming or processing methods used in their production, or from the place of their production or marketing, or from their possible contribution to sustainable development.

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Article 2

Scope

1.

This Regulation covers agricultural products intended for human consumption listed in Annex I to the Treaty and other agricultural products and foodstuffs listed in Annex I to this Regulation.

In order to take into account international commitments or new production methods or material, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 56, supplementing the list of products set out in Annex I to this Regulation. Such products shall be closely linked to agricultural products or to the rural economy.

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2.

This Regulation shall not apply to spirit drinks or grapevine products as defined in Annex VII, Part II, to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, with the exception of wine-vinegars.

3.

Registrations made pursuant to Article 52 are without prejudice to the obligation of producers to comply with other Union rules, in particular those relating to the placing of products on the market and to food labelling.

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4.

Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations and of rules on Information Society services (1) shall not apply to the quality schemes established by this Regulation.

Article 3

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:

(1)

‘quality schemes’ means the schemes established under Titles II, III and IV;

(2)

‘group’ means any association, irrespective of its legal form, mainly composed of producers or processors working with the same product;

(3)

‘traditional’ means proven usage on the domestic market for a period that allows transmission between generations; this period is to be at least 30 years;

(4)

‘labelling’ means any words, particulars, trade marks, brand name, pictorial matter or symbol relating to a foodstuff and placed on any packaging, document, notice, label, ring or collar accompanying or referring to such foodstuff;

(5)

‘specific character’ in relation to a product means the characteristic production attributes which distinguish a product clearly from other similar products of the same category;

(6)

‘generic terms ’ means the names of products which, although relating to the place, region or country where the product was originally produced or marketed, have become the common name of a product in the Union;

(7)

‘production step’ means production, processing or preparation;

(8)

‘processed products’ means foodstuffs resulting from the processing of unprocessed products. Processed products may contain ingredients that are necessary for their manufacture or to give them specific characteristics.

TITLE II

PROTECTED DESIGNATIONS OF ORIGIN AND PROTECTED GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS

Article 4

Objective

A scheme for protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications is established in order to help producers of products linked to a geographical area by:

(a)

securing fair returns for the qualities of their products;

(b)

ensuring uniform protection of the names as an intellectual property right in the territory of the Union;

(c)

providing clear information on the value-adding attributes of the product to consumers.

Article 5

Requirements for designations of origin and geographical indications

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1.

For the purpose of this Regulation, a ‘designation of origin’ is a name, which may be a traditionally used name, which identifies a product:

(a)

originating in a specific place, region or, in exceptional cases, country;

(b)

whose quality or characteristics are essentially or exclusively due to a particular geographical environment with its inherent natural and human factors; and

(c)

the production steps of which all take place in the defined geographical area.

2.

For the purpose of this Regulation, a ‘geographical indication’ is a name, including a traditionally used name, which identifies a product:

(a)

originating in a specific place, region or country;

(b)

whose given quality, reputation or other characteristic is essentially attributable to its geographical origin; and

(c)

at least one of the production steps of which takes place in the defined geographical area.

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3.

Notwithstanding paragraph 1, certain names shall be treated as designations of origin even though the raw materials for the products concerned come from a geographical area larger than, or different from, the defined geographical area, provided that:

(a)

the production area of the raw materials is defined;

(b)

special conditions for the production of the raw materials exist;

(c)

there are control arrangements to ensure that the conditions referred to in point (b) are adhered to; and

(d)

the designations of origin in question were recognised as designations of origin in the country of origin before 1 May 2004.

Only live animals, meat and milk may be considered as raw materials for the purposes of this paragraph.

4.

In order to take into account the specific character of production of products of animal origin, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 56, concerning restrictions and derogations with regard to the sourcing of feed in the case of a designation of origin.

In addition, in order to take into account the specific character of certain products or areas, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 56, concerning restrictions and derogations with regard to the slaughtering of live animals or with regard to the sourcing of raw materials.

These restrictions and derogations shall, based on objective criteria, take into account quality or usage and recognised know-how or natural factors.

Article 6

Generic nature, conflicts with names of plant varieties and animal breeds, with homonyms and trade marks

1.

Generic terms shall not be registered as protected designations of origin or protected geographical indications.

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2.

A name may not be registered as a designation of origin or geographical indication where it conflicts with a name of a plant variety or an animal breed and is likely to mislead the consumer as to the true origin of the product or to cause confusion between products with the registered designation and the variety or breed in question.

The conditions referred to in the first subparagraph shall be assessed in relation to the actual use of the names in conflict, including the use of the name of the plant variety or animal breed outside its area of origin and the use of the name of a plant variety protected by another intellectual property right.

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3.

A name proposed for registration that is wholly or partially homonymous with a name already entered in the register established under Article 11 may not be...