Historical ruling for the world of wine: the Court of Justice of the European Union pronounced cagainst the use of misspelled terms or label graphics by manufacturers who can mislead consumers evoking typical features protected by EU standards.
An historic ruling especially for made in Italy since theItaly is the European leader in denominations of origin with 316 Dop, Igp and Stg who develop a value of production of 16,9 billion euros and exports of 9,5 billion euros with the contribution of more 180.000 operators”. “A heritage – underlines the president of Coldiretti Ettore Prandini – under attack by fake made in Italy which improperly uses words, colours, localities, images, denominations and recipes that refer to Italy for counterfeit foods that have nothing to do with the national production system".
The case arose from the appeal of the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC), body for the protection of the interests of champagne producers, against a Spanish bar chain using the name "Champanillo" (which in Spanish means «little champagne») to promote the premises, with a graphic support depicting two goblets filled with a sparkling drink. The diatribe went from the Iberian judiciary to the European Court of Justice called to clarify whether according to EU law on the protection of PDO products it is possible to use a term in trade to designate not products but services.
The EU judges thus recalled that the Community regulation protects PDOs (Protected Designations of Origin) from conduct relating to both products and services, and the determining criterion for ascertaining the presence of an illegitimate evocation is that of ascertaining whether the consumer, in presence of a controversial denomination such as for Champanillo, is induced to have directly in mind, as a reference image, precisely the goods protected by the PDO, in the case of champagne. And, according to the Court, it is not necessary that the product protected by the designation and the contested product or service are identical or similar, since the existence of the link between the false and the authentic can also derive from phonetic and visual affinity.
"Therefore - underlines Coldiretti - if it is illegitimate to use a name or a sign that evokes, even by crippling it, a product with a designation of origin, the Court's ruling can also be applied to the many imitations of Italian PDOs starting from wine Prosecco, victim of a flourishing fake market in recent years made precisely by recalling the name by assonance. We go – Coldiretti denounces – from Meer-secco to Kressecco, from Semi-secco to Consecco, from Whitesecco to Crisecco”.
