After years of defending famous food names like Parma ham, the European Union may offer similar protection to non-European exporters of products like Idaho potatoes and Colombian coffee to comply with a world trade ruling.
In proposed changes published Wednesday to a law that now protects some 720 different European foods, the EU aims to answer complaints by Australia and the United States in a case filed against the bloc at the World Trade Organization.
Last March, the WTO said the EU’s rules for recognizing the food names of its trade competitors in its own markets were too onerous and had to be dropped.
Now, the EU plans to scrap at least some of those conditions — including a controversial clause stipulating that the non-EU country wanting EU protection for a product must also protect the corresponding EU product in its own markets.
It also plans to allow producer associations to apply for EU product protection instead of restricting the right to governments.
Australia and the United States had argued that they were deterred from registering their products in the EU by the bloc’s discriminatory conditions. But Brussels says this is simply because foreign firms had not sought to be included.
“It will no longer be necessary for a registration request for non-EU countries to be made by governments ... and there will no longer be a requirement for quality guarantees on the home market for registration in the EU,” Michael Mann, European Commission agriculture spokesman, told a news briefing.
Both sides claimed victory in the food names dispute.
Australia and the United States said they had been vindicated because the EU would have to give equal treatment to their products. Brussels was adamant it had emerged victorious, saying the WTO had upheld the integrity of its names system.
The EU protects hundreds of regional food names like Roquefort cheese and Parma ham, and several thousand wines — among them Rioja and Champagne — saying only those who make the product in the relevant European region may use the name.
More than 150 cheeses, 160 meat products, 150 fresh and processed fruits and 80 types of olive oil are now EU-protected.
But there are no non-European goods yet registered for similar protection. The EU received its first such application in June, from Colombia, for its famous coffee Cafe de Colombia. A decision is still pending after the commission requested more information from Bogota last month.
EU ministers will discuss the proposed changes, drafted by the Commission, aiming to reach agreement by an April 2006 deadline set by the WTO.
