Legal provisions of COM(2018)350 - Accession of the EU to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications

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dossier COM(2018)350 - Accession of the EU to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications.
document COM(2018)350 EN
date October  7, 2019

Contents

Article 1

The accession of the European Union to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications (‘the Geneva Act’) is hereby approved on behalf of the Union.

The text of the Geneva Act is attached to this Decision.

Article 2

The President of the Council shall designate the person empowered to deposit, on behalf of the Union, the instrument of accession provided for in point (ii) of Article 28(2) of the Geneva Act, in order to express the consent of the Union to be bound by the Geneva Act, as well as to make the declaration and notification attached to the instrument of accession provided for in Article 5 of this Decision.

Article 3

Member States which wish to do so, are hereby authorised to ratify or accede to, as appropriate, alongside the Union, the Geneva Act in the interest of the Union and in full respect of its exclusive competence.

Article 4

1. In the Special Union, the Union and any Member States which ratifies or accedes to the Geneva Act pursuant to Article 3 of this Decision shall be represented by the Commission in accordance with Article 17(1) TEU. The Union shall be responsible for ensuring the exercise of the rights and fulfillment of the obligations of the Union and of the Member States which ratify or accede to the Geneva Act pursuant to Article 3 of this Decision.

The Commission shall make all the necessary notifications under the Geneva Act on behalf of the Union and those Member States.

In particular, the Commission shall be designated as the Competent Authority referred to in Article 3 of the Geneva Act, responsible for the administration of the Geneva Act in the territory of the Union and for communications with the International Bureau of the WIPO under the Geneva Act and the Common Regulations under the Lisbon Agreement and the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement (the ‘Common Regulations’).

2. The Union shall vote in the Assembly of the Special Union and the Member States which have ratified or acceded to the Geneva Act shall not exercise their right to vote.

Article 5

In accordance with Article 29(4) of the Geneva Act, a declaration attached to the instrument of accession shall specify an extension by one year of the time limit referred to in Article 15(1) of the Geneva Act, and the periods referred to in Article 17 of the Geneva Act, in accordance with the procedures specified in the Common Regulations.

In accordance with point (a) of Rule 5(3) of the Common Regulations, a notification to the Director-General of WIPO attached to the instrument of accession shall specify the requirement that, for the protection of a registered appellation of origin or geographical indication in the territory of the Union, the application shall, in addition to the mandatory contents set out in Rule 5(2) of the Common Regulations, indicate particulars concerning, in the case of an appellation of origin, the quality or characteristics of the good and its connection with the geographical environment of the geographical area of production, and, in the case of a geographical indication, the quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good and its connection with the geographical area of origin.

Article 6

This Decision shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.