Wine Law

6 agricultural products 23 . The protection of geographical indications is stricter in EU law than under TRIPS Agreement since any direct or indirect commercial use of the protected name or its misuse, imitation or evocation are prohibited regardless of whether the true origin of the product or service is indicated. The use of correctives (such as “style”, “type”, “method”, “as produced in”, “imitation”, “flavour”, “like” or similar) is prohibited in connection with any geographical indication and not only those for wine and spirits, and regardless of whether they are misleading or not (Article 103(2)). Registers of geographical indications for wine, food, spirits and aromatised wine protected in the EU are accessible in the public database eAmbrosia 24 . Article 101 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 specifically defines a generic name of a wine as a name that relates to the place or the region where this product was originally produced or marketed but has become the common name of a wine in the Union. Such a name cannot be protected as a designation of origin or a geographical indication. Under Article 103(3), however, PDOs and PGIs cannot subsequently become generic in the EU. 3. Homonymous Geographical Indications Homonymous geographical indications are those that are identical or similar in spelling and/or pronunciation but are used to designate the geographical origin of products stemming from different countries 25 . A well-known and often cited example is Rioja wine, which is produced in Spain and in Argentina as a wine growing region named Rioja is found in both countries 26 . The problemwith homonymous geographical indications arises when they are used in the same market to designate identical or similar products 27 . Nevertheless, apart from the case of generic names, there are situations where homonymous geographical indications for the same type of goods can co-exist without being misleading. Honest use of such geographical indications should be possible where 23 Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007, OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, pp. 671-854. 24 Available in: https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/food-safety-and- quality/certification/quality-labels/geographical-indications-register/ ( last accessed on 20.12.2020). 25 M. Blakeney, p. 27. See discussion on what constitutes a homonymous name at K. Shimura, pp. 144-146. 26 L. Monten, p. 320. J. Addor & A. Grazioli, p. 879. 27 B. O'Connor, p. 104.