Agricultural products and foodstuffs: designations of origin, geographical indications (repeal. Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92)

 The committee adopted the report by Friedrich-Wilhelm GRAEFE zu BARINGDORF (Greens/EFA, DE) amending the proposed regulation on products of geographical indication (PGIs) and products of designated origin (PDOs), under the consultation procedure:

- with regard to the extension of the regulation's scope to cover products from third countries, the committee said that, to ensure that there is no confusion in consumers' minds between the Community symbol and the origin of a product, the places of origin and processing of each registered PGI and PDO should be "clearly and visibly" indicated on the label;

- the Community symbols for PDOs, PGIs and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSGs) should be distinguished by means of colour codes specific to each symbol;

- to qualify as a PDO, a product should be not only produced, processed and prepared in the defined geographical area, as stated in the proposal, but also, where appropriate, packaged in that area. MEPs argued that packaging constituted a stage in the processing of a product which had its own requirements and called for genuine know-how;

- the committee proposed a clearer definition of 'geographical indication': "an indication or the name of a region, of a specific place or of a country serving to describe and/or identify an agricultural product or foodstuff";

- the Commission's register of PGI and PDO products should be published on the Internet so as to make it easily accessible to consumers and producers;

- specific deadlines should be laid down for various stages of the registration procedure, to avoid unnecessary delays;

- the use of the registered PGI or PDO expression for processed products should be subject to authorisation from the group that obtained recognition;

- the Member States should designate an official body responsible for monitoring compliance with EU rules on geographical indication. A list of these bodies should be published in the EU Official Journal.