table of contents
1. Overview of the current status of Italian legislation on the protection of geographical indications
(i) The Legal Basis for the Protection of Geographical Indications in Italy: Industrial Property Code
(ii) Model of sui generis legislation for special products of geographical indications in Italy
2. The system of special geographical indication protection system for the Italian wine industry
3. Reflections and Enlightenment
1. Overview of the current status of Italian legislation on the protection of geographical indications
Italy is the European country with the most recognized appellations of origin and geographical indications for agricultural products in the European Union, with more than 800 and more than 5,000 traditional regional products. The first batch of the Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the European Union on the Protection and Cooperation of Geographical Indications contains 26 Italian products, such as Barolo wine, Parma ham, Padano cheese, etc., and the second batch contains 29 Italian products, such as Masala wine, Fangtina cheese, Pescara Aputino olive oil, etc., totaling 55 varieties. This not only further demonstrates the high quality of Italian products, but also the close link between the excellence of Italian agricultural products and their origin. The GI system is a catalyst for local production systems and economies, as well as for environmental protection, as the inextricable link between the product itself and its place of origin determines the need to protect ecosystems and biodiversity, and it also maintains social cohesion throughout the region. At the same time, GI products provide consumers with higher traceability and food safety assurance than other products due to their regional certification.
01Legal Basis for the Protection of Geographical Indications in Italy Industrial Property Code
The Italian Industrial Property Code (Codice della Proprietà Industriale) specifies the protection of geographical indications. First of all, the scope of industrial property rights in Article 1 of the Italian Industrial Property Code gives a clear legal status to geographical indications and appellations of origin, and Article 2 provides for three different ways of establishing rights, namely patents, trademark registrations or other means provided for in this Code. The Code on Geographical Indications and Appellations of Origin does not specify[1] but adopts a broader formulation to determine the protective status of geographical indications and appellations of origin. The second part of the Code has a special chapter on geographical indications, although there are only two specific articles under it, namely Article 29[2] and Article 30[3], which respectively stipulate the objects of protection and the measures of protection of geographical indications. Article 11 of the Italian Industrial Property Code[4] also provides that geographical indications can be protected in the form of collective marks, and the Italian Industrial Property Code does not certify the classification of marks compared to the mainland.
02 Specialized Legislative Model for Special Products of Italian Geographical Indications
Geographical indications are protected mainly by specific legislation in Italy. Italy is a member of the European Union, and the EU rules are also the universal rules of the Italian geographical indication system, and Italy has made a series of regulations to bring the domestic rules in line with the EU, and only the part of the original system that is compatible with the EU is retained. The Italian GI system consists of a universal product system, which includes a system at the EU level and Italian laws at the national level, and a special product system, which is mainly a system for the protection of geographical indications for specific products such as wine and cheese. Italian food has an excellent reputation around the globe for its centuries-old gastronomic tradition and dedication to quality excellence, and is recognized by a series of geographical indication certifications from the European Union, including PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) [5] and PGI (Protected Geographical Designation of Origin) [6]. The purpose of the PDO and PGI is not only to protect the appellation of origin from illegal use by entities other than the right holder and to avoid damage to the reputation of the high quality of the appellation of origin, but also to provide institutional protection for consumers who purchase appellation of origin products and help consumers distinguish the production area and quality grade of specific products. In addition, the understanding of the prohibition of malicious imitation and abuse is not limited to punishment, but also includes incentives for production diversification and quality improvement. Therefore, the grant of the PDO mark is an official certification of the excellent quality of the AO product, and the grant of the PDO mark is stricter than the grant of the PGI mark, which requires that the whole process of production, processing and preparation of the product originate from a specific geographical area, while the PDO requires only one of the three processes to originate from a specific region in order to be recognized as constituting a PGI. It can be seen that the construction of the geographical indication system in the mainland is still at a low level, and there is no more detailed classification of geographical indications, and the specific indications under the European Union and Italy geographical indication systems still need to be further confirmed.
Italy is rich in products and is the country with the most geographical indications in the European Union, and the protection of geographical indications for special products is an important part of the Italian geographical indication protection system, and the protection of geographical indications for special products in Italy mainly involves wine and other alcoholic beverages, cheese, meat products, olive oil, etc., especially wine is an important area of geographical indication protection for special products. As early as 1932, Italy adopted an interdepartmental decree to specifically protect the geographical indications of Chianti Classico wines, and in 1963, Italy borrowed from the French geographical indication system and promulgated Act No. 930/1963 (implemented in 1966) on the protection of wine appellations of origin, which provided the legal basis for the protection of wine origins and established a system for the protection of wine geographical indications. [7] Law No. 851 of 28 November 1984 promulgated new regulations on Marsala wines, further detailing the rules governing the internal classification of Italian wines, such as Article 5, which stipulates that "the text used on the packaging of wine must be marked on the label in characters no larger than 4 mm. "The specific criteria for the use of label size show the normative and strict nature of the geographical indications of Italian wines. Legislative Decree No. 61 of April 8, 2010 (Protection of Wine Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications) entered into force on May 11, 2010, and is also the implementation of Article 15 of Law No. 88 of July 7, 2009, which is of great significance for the improvement of the system of appellations of origin and geographical indications in the Italian wine industry. Article 1 of the Decree stipulates that "the Protected Designation of Origin for Wine (PDO) is a particularly appropriate geographical designation for a wine-growing region to designate a quality and well-known product whose characteristics are essentially or exclusively related to the natural environment and human factors." A Protected Geographical Indication for Wine (PGI) is the geographical name of a region that is used to identify products produced in that region and that have qualities, reputation and characteristics that are unique to that region. Article 3 clearly explains the application of the classification of appellations of origin and geographical indications within the Italian territory, and Article 3.2 states that "DOCG and DOC are the traditional terms used in Italy for the designation of PDO wine products." "With paragraph 3: "The PGI of the products referred to in this Decree includes the Typical Geographical Indication (IGT). A typical geographical indication is a traditional term used in Italy to designate IGP wines as defined by the European Community. ”
For other alcoholic beverages, Italy has also enacted laws such as spirits to protect the reputation and quality of the GI products in question. Although some of the provisions of Act No. 1559 of 7 December 1951 regulating the production and trade of spirits were repealed by Presidential Decree No. 297 of 1997, the remainder still serve to regulate the production and sale of spirits to the use of labels. In addition to this, Italian law grants special protection to cheese, ham, olive oil in special categories. Royal Decree No. 2033/1925 of 1925 was the main basis for the protection of GIs for cheese in Italy in the first half of the 20th century. In 1951, Italy signed the Stresa Convention for the Protection of Designations of Origin of Cheese, which was signed by Italy as a member state and implemented in 1953 by Presidential Decree No. 1099/1953. Law No. 125/1954, which entered into force on 30 April 1954, establishes the legal framework for the protection of cheese appellations of origin and geographical indications, with a total of 17 articles and an appendix containing a list of 8 cheeses with a fixed designation of origin. With the exception of wine and cheese, it was not until after 1970 that Italy began to grant protection to geographical indications for agricultural products, with Law 506/1970, Law 507/1970 and Law 628/1981 regulating the appellations of origin of Parma ham, SanDaniele ham and Berico-Euganeo ham, respectively, each with specific implementing rules. [8] Based on the names and definitions of olive oil as set out in Council Regulation (EEC) No. 136/66 of September 22, 1966, as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1915/87 of July 2, 1987 and Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 2568/91 of July 11, 1991, and the promulgation of Law No. 169 of February 5, 1992 (Rules for the Recognition of Controlled Designations of Origin for Virgin and Extra Virgin Olive Oil), Specialized protection of the appellation of origin of olive oil has also been initiated.
2. The system of special geographical indication protection system for the Italian wine industry
Italian wine enjoys a good reputation all over the world, wine cultivation has a long history, and the wine industry has become a characteristic industry in Italy, and has driven the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries. Italy also experienced a period of chaos in the quality management of domestic wines, but Italy has returned to the world's top level through the government's planning and amendment bill, which requires major wine producers to strictly adhere to the D.O.C. classification standards. Although both PDO and PGI are legal label terms, most Italian wineries choose to use more traditional label terms, as Italy has a stricter classification system for wines, which is slightly different from the EU standard in terms of specific names and grades.
Table 1: Italian wine grading system and its correspondence with the European Union
Italian Legislative Decree No. 61 of April 8, 2010, the main content of which is on the protection of appellations of origin and geographical indications for wines. Due to Italy's status as a member of the European Union, EU rules are often referred to in the opening and specific provisions of the Decree. There are also detailed regulations on the use of wine labels in terms of grape varieties, cultivation, packaging and labelling of wines, and even geographical indication labels. Article 22 of Chapter IX Sanctions sets out six penalties in the production process. Italy has developed a technical document for geographical indication products, such as Decree No. 5388 of August 1, 2011, on the geographical indication "Italian brandy". Another example is Law No. 851 of 28 November 1984, which promulgates new regulations on Masala wines, which stipulates that "this Law, which bears the State seal, will be included in the Official Collection of Laws and Decrees of the Italian Republic." Everyone has an obligation to observe and enforce it as national law. It also raises the protection provisions on special geographical indication products to the level of law.
Article 4 of Decree No. 61 of April 8, 2010 (Protection of Wine Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications) provides a legal basis for the judicial application of the division and identification of the production area of geographical indication products in mainland China, that is, if the environment is similar, the grape varieties and cultivation techniques are the same, and have the same quality, the production area of the appellation of origin may include adjacent or adjacent areas outside the area indicated by the appellation of origin itself. Wines produced in sub-appellations must be specified in the production specifications and will be subject to stricter regulation, but in the case of DOCG and DOC wines, Article 4, paragraph 3 of the Decree clearly states that the inclusion of sub-appellations is not allowed in the production specifications.
Article 5 was a legal provision on the coexistence of one or more designations or geographical indications in the same territory, and it was clear that in Italy appellations of origin and geographical indications were two parallel institutional channels. However, in order to ensure that wine grades of higher varietal grades (DOCG and DOC) are not confused with IGT wines, Article 5.3 provides that "after obtaining DOCG or DOC certification, the name itself cannot be used as an IGT, and vice versa, unless the appellation of origin and the name of the geographical indication partially correspond to the same geographical element." "In general, multiple DOCGs or DOCs are allowed to use the same geographical name, as long as their appellation includes the area defined by the geographical name above. Under the above conditions, multiple IGTs are also allowed to use the same geographical name. At the same time, the coexistence of different DOCG or DOC wines needs to be based on the fact that DOCG wines will always have stricter production practices and special geographical environments or production methods.
Articles 22 and 23 of Italian Legislative Decree No. 61 of 8 April 2010 also provide for detailed rules for the production process and the description of the name, and in addition to monetary compensation, article 22, paragraph 1, requires the violator to publish the penalty in the two newspapers with the largest circulation in the region, one of which is a daily newspaper and the other is a technical newspaper. Article 23, paragraph 3, is the practical application of the principle of "evoking associations" in Italian national law, which states that "without prejudice to the application of the provisions of the Penal Code in force, it is impermissible for any person to usurpate, imitate or evoke a protected name or distinctive sign or trademark in the naming and presentation of a product, even if the true origin of the product is indicated." or with expressions such as taste, use, system, kind, type, method or similar, or the use of enhancers, abbreviations or other variations of the name itself, or in any case the use of illustrative signs or signs that are likely to cause misunderstanding. The use of expressions such as system, kind, type, method, etc., or the use of increments, reductions or other variations of the name itself, or in any case the use of illustrative indications or signs that may mislead the purchaser, shall be subject to administrative penalties ranging from two thousand euros to thirteen thousand euros. The sanctions referred to in paragraph 3 also apply to the placement of the altered words or names on packaging, official and commercial documents. "In addition, it can be seen from the penalties that the protection of wine appellations of origin and geographical indications in Italy is relatively strict, and anyone who uses false or misleading statements about the origin, origin, nature or essential qualities of the products on packaging or parcels, in advertising, in consumer information, or in documents relating to the product in question, or uses containers or instructions that do not conform to the instructions in the production specifications and relevant application regulations of the protected name, as well as the use of containers that may mislead the country of origin, shall be subject to corresponding administrative penalties.
3. Reflections and Enlightenment
The protection of geographical indications in Italy is mainly based on the rules of the European Union, and the study of the legal protection system of geographical indications in Italy is inseparable from the pre-study of the protection system of geographical indications in Italy. Different from the EU rules, the Italian GI protection system also has its own special institutional rules and conceptual expressions, and under the EU's strict GI rule system, Italy's requirements for GI products are also very strict. For example, Italy has established a stricter internal classification system for the development of geographical products with a long history, mature industrial system and high reputation, so as to further divide the wine grading system into: DOCG, DOC, IGT, VDT, and through the re-classification of geographical indication products, the highest quality geographical indication products will obtain higher value-added benefits. Secondly, the principle of evoking associations plays an important role in both the Italian and EU legal rules for the protection of geographical indications, providing a stronger level of protection for geographical indications. At present, there are no similar provisions in the legal documents of the mainland law on the determination of infringement of geographical indications, but the content of the principle of evoking associations is covered in Article 4 of the Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the European Union on the Protection and Cooperation of Geographical Indications[9] on the scope of protection of geographical indications. If the principle of evoking associations is introduced into the special legislation of mainland geographical indications in the future, it will be of great benefit to both the resolution of the determination of infringement of mainland geographical indications and the development and protection of mainland geographical indication products. Finally, Italy has formulated detailed penalty rules for GI infringement in the formulation of legal texts, which are different from the common applicable norms of mainland GI legislation, GIs have independent sanction provisions, and point to clear punitive rules that have a stronger prevention, restraint and punishment effect on the occurrence and punishment of GI infringement and violations.
Compared with the legal system of geographical indications in mainland China, appellations of origin are also one of the important means of protection in EU countries, and under the discourse of legal protection of geographical indications in Italy, appellations of origin are designed to ensure that products bearing an appellation of origin come from a specific geographical area and have certain specific characteristics. Appellations of origin enjoy a high reputation among consumers and are an important means of attracting consumers for producers who meet the conditions for use. The reputation of an appellation of origin depends on its image in the minds of consumers, which in turn depends primarily on the specific characteristics of the product and, more generally, on the quality of the product. At the end of the day, a product's reputation is based on the latter. For the consumer, the link between the producer's reputation and the quality of the product also depends on his conviction that the product sold under the appellation of origin is authentic. From the legislative text, it can be seen that the Italian law under the EU rule system has a relatively strict protection of appellations of origin, and this strict control of the quality of appellations of origin happens to be what is lacking in the construction of the mainland geographical indication system and is worth learning and learning.
Annotations (scroll up and down to view)
[1] Article 2 of the Industrial Property Code: "Industrial property rights are acquired by patents, trademark registrations or other means specified in this Code. In addition to registered trademarks, other distinctive signs, trade secret information, geographical indications and appellations of origin are protected by law. ”
[2] Article 29 of the Industrial Property Code: "Geographical indications and appellations of origin shall be protected if they are used to designate a product originating in a country, region or place whose quality, reputation or identity is wholly or mainly attributable to the geographical environment of the place of origin, including natural, human and traditional factors." ”
[3] Article 30 of the Industrial Property Code: "Without prejudice to unfair competition clauses, relevant international conventions and previously acquired trademark rights in good faith, the use of geographical indications and appellations of origin, as well as the use of any means in the name or description of a product that indicates or implies that the product is from a place other than its true place of origin, or that the product has the qualities expected of a product from a place designated by the geographical indication, is prohibited and may deceive the public." ”
[4] Article 11 of the Industrial Property Code: "A special mark may be registered as a collective mark by a person whose duty is to guarantee the origin, nature or quality of certain products or services, and the right to use the mark may be granted to the manufacturer or trader." Notwithstanding Article 13(1), a collective mark may consist of signs or signs used in trade to designate the geographical origin of goods or services. However, in this case, the Italian Patent and Trademark Office may, in a reasonable decision, refuse to register if the applied trademark is likely to create undue privilege or otherwise prejudice the development of other similar activities in the region. In this regard, the Italian Patent and Trademark Office may seek the views of the relevant or competent public administrations, classes and institutions. The registration of a collective mark consisting of a geographical name does not authorize the owner to prohibit third parties from using the geographical name in commercial activities, provided that such use is in accordance with the principle of professional correctness and is therefore limited to the function of the indication of origin. ”
[5] PDO conditions are the most stringent, requiring that the quality or characteristics of the product must be mainly or exclusively attributable to the natural and human factors of its geographical origin, and that every link in the entire production, processing and preparation of agricultural products and foodstuffs (including the production and processing of raw materials) must be carried out in the specified area of origin. In the case of wine, this means that the grapes must come exclusively from the geographical region in which the wine is made.
[6] The conditions for PGI are slightly relaxed and take into account reputation, i.e., requiring that "there is a causal relationship between a particular quality, reputation, or other characteristic of a product and its geographic origin, and that at least one stage of the production, processing, and preparation of the product takes place within a specified geographic area." At least 85% of the grapes used in the wine product must come exclusively from the geographical region in which the wine is actually made.
[7] See Zhang Yafeng et al., "The Experience and Enlightenment of Italian Geographical Indications in Promoting Rural Revitalization", China Soft Science, No. 12, 2019, pp. 53-61.
[8] See Zhang Yafeng et al., "A Comparative Study of the Geographical Indication System in China and Italy", Economic System Reform, No. 4, 2021, pp. 173-179.
[9] Article 4 of the Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the European Union on the Protection and Cooperation of Geographical Indications: "1. The two sides shall protect the geographical indications referred to in Appendices III and IV, including those subsequently added in accordance with Article 3 of this Agreement, against the following acts: (2) any use of a geographical indication indicating an identical or similar product that does not originate from the place of origin indicated by the geographical indication, even if the true origin of the product has been indicated or paraphrases have been used in the use of such geographical indications, Transliteration or literal translation, or the use of words "kind", "variety", "style", "imitation", etc. ”
Author: Sun Na Zhou Zongxi
编辑：Eleven