Wine Law

17 reworked into the EU Directive of 16 December 2015 and should, therefore, be incorporated into Member-States’ national law 35 . Article 7.1 letters (k) and (l) EUTMR refer to the provisions applicable for the protection of traditional term of wines and traditional speciality guaranteed under Union legislation (i.e. EU Regulation 607/2009 as modified by EU Regulation 670/2011 and EU Regulation 1308/2013 for traditional terms of wines, and EU Regulation 1151/2012 for traditional specialty guaranteed) or to international agreements to which the Union or the Member State concerned is party. EU Regulations state that protected traditional term 36 and traditional speciality guaranteed 37 may only be used for a product which has been produced in conformity with their definition. 4) Regarding traditional terms, Article 40.2 of EU Regulation 607/2009 and Article 113 of EU Regulation 1308/2013 protect them against any misuse, or any other false or misleading indication as to the nature, characteristics or essential qualities of the product, placed on the inner or outer packaging, advertising material or documents relating to it and against other practice likely to mislead the consumer, in particular to give the impression that the wine qualifies for the protected traditional term. However, it is specified that this protection is limited to the language and for the categories of grape vine products claimed in the application. Reference has been made to the ECJ to a preliminary ruling in a case concerning the use by a German wine producer of the French terms “Grande Réserve” and “Réserve” 38 , which are listed as traditional terms by the EU Regulation for Greece, Spain, Italy, Austria and Portugal. The ECJ stated that a EU traditional term listed is protected both with regard to wines of the same category(ies) from the same producer Member State as that traditional term, and with regard to wines of the same category(ies) from other producer Member States. The use of a particular relating to the production or ageing method or the quality of a wine in a member State, which did not define it as a traditional term, may be permitted only if there is no risk that it will mislead the persons to whom it is addressed by creating confusion with the traditional terms listed by EU Regulation. Its translation into a language other than that in 35 Implemented in France by Order No. 2019-1169 of 13 November 2009. 36 Article 41 of EU Regulation 607/2009 and Article 113 of EU Regulation 1308/2013. 37 Article 23 of EU Regulation 1151/2012. 38 ECJ, 13 March 2008, C-285/06.