Sustainable Tourism Law
512 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW no link between the qualities of the product and the territory. It is simply a signposting of the place of origin, without it conveying any special quality (Ceballos, 2017). Indications of source do not have their own protection regime, however, they are covered by unfair competition and consumer protection rules, in accordance with Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and Directive 2006/114/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 concerning misleading and comparative advertising. Another one of the figures we find in this field are the traditional specialities guaranteed. In this case, it is not a new institution linking the product to its territory, but, in accordance with Article 17 of Regulation 1151/2012, it aims “to safeguard traditional methods of production and recipes by helping producers of traditional products in marketing and communicating the value-adding attributes of their traditional recipes and products to consumers”. Once the appellations of origin and other related institutions have been conceptually defined, the international, European and Spanish regulatory framework of the AO will be outlined. IV.3. Legal framework A review of the regulations on appellations of origin reveals significant differences in the system used by Western countries. Montero (2016) points out that we can find specific legislations, such as the French one, which establishes a particular protection for the AO and was one of the countries that began the process of recognizing them as an exclusive right. On the other hand, it is possible to find legislation such as Germany’s, which is at the other extreme and limits protection to the rules of unfair competition. It is also possible to find countries such as Austria, Bulgaria or Canada that protect them through the trademark system. In general, the regulation of AO is strongly influenced by the country factor, hence we can find at least three systems of protection or the combination of more than one of them at an international level (WIPO, 2018). In this area of the law there are several international treaties that recognize protection through appellations of origin. The first of these is the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of March 20, 1883. This treaty includes, in its Article 1.2, how indications of source or appellations of origin are part of industrial property. In addition, Article 1.3 makes explicit the protection that the agricultural industry receives through industrial property.
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