PURPOSE: to conclude an agreement between the European
Union and Iceland on the protection of geographical indications for
agricultural products and foodstuffs.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the
act only if Parliament has given its consent to the
act.
BACKGROUND: Article 19 of the European Economic Area
Agreement (EEA Agreement) contains provisions on trade in
agricultural products. The 2007 EU-Iceland bilateral Agreement on
trade preferences includes, among others, a commitment by the
Parties to promote trade in products with geographical indications
(GIs).
The EU-Iceland GIs negotiations were conducted from 4
July 2012 to 17 September 2015. The negotiations were carried out
in conjunction with the EU-Iceland negotiations on further
liberalisation of trade in agricultural and processed agricultural
products.
The conclusion of the GIs Agreement with Iceland fits
into the overall EU strategy of promoting the production and the
consumption of EU products with GIs.
CONTENT: the Commission proposed that the Council
adopt a decision, approving on behalf of the European Union, the
Agreement between the European Union and Iceland on the protection
of geographical indications for agricultural products and
foodstuffs.
Under this Agreement, 1 150 EU foodstuff GIs
will obtain a high level of direct protection in
Iceland.
The GIs will be protected against:
- any direct or indirect commercial use;
- any misuse, imitation or evocation of the
product;
- any other false or misleading indication as to the
provenance, origin, nature or essential qualities of the
product;
- any other practice liable to mislead the consumer as
to the true origin of the product.
Iceland has not yet registered any protected GI
names.
The Agreement provides, however, a mechanism for
updating the GIs list and for including new GI names at a
later stage through a Joint Committee process
The EEA Agreement already provides for the mutual
recognition and protection of geographical indications for wines,
aromatised wine products and spirit drinks. Therefore the scope
of this Agreement covers only agricultural products and foodstuffs
other than wines, aromatised wine products and spirit
drinks.
The GIs Agreement will enter into force on the first
day of the month following the date on which the Parties have
notified each other that their respective internal adoption
procedures have been completed.