Wine Law

11 geographical area”. The tweaks made to the previous 2006 version run very much along the same lines as those made to the concept of designation of origin in the same Regulation: 1) unlike previous regulations, the reference to “agricultural product” or ”foodstuff” as part of the scope has been omitted (we will come back to this further below); 2) the country being one of the qualifying geographical elements is no longer exceptional (a circumstance that remains in the current text for designations of origin, as we have said); 3) it is now required that the quality, standing or characteristic of the product be attributed “essentially” to its geographical origin; 4) and, lastly, in a more measured fashion, it requires that at least one of the production steps take place in the defined geographical area. It is very apparent that the distinction between designations of origin and geographical indications is far from being self-explanatory, at least in practice. We will now consider the criteria we might tease out from this piece of legislation, bearing in mind that for both notions the quality of the product is attributable to the geographical location, the name of which is used in its designation. The relevant differentiating factor — and a sharp one indeed — between designations and geographical indications appears to be in the respective paragraph c) of the definitions provided: the location within the geographical environment considered of the various stages of production. We must conclude that this circumstance may set both notions apart as the inclusion of the “origin” is somewhat vague for the latter. Therefore, designations would require that all production steps (production — meaning the collection of raw material — , processing or preparation) take place in the geographical environment protected by the designation, whereas any of the production steps happening in the area would enough for the indication to qualify. It might be relatively frequent that only the processing and/or preparation takes place in the place, region or country the indication is named after, production of the raw material being caried out somewhere else — or in the same location, but being unable to prove any