Wine Law

20 may or may not be fully appropriate, the peculiarities in the way they operate cannot be fully understood from the perspective of Private Law. The conclusion seems almost self-evident. Viewing designations of origin as a public-law interest will render the, otherwise, indisputable nature as intellectual property of the geographical names associated therewith much less relevant. This, however, should not inhibit the categorisation of their governing bodies nor the legislative and executive powers exerted on those bodies and the names associated with them. In short, they are a Public-law interest which make use of a distinctive sign , a familiar framework of an industrial property right. 4. Preservation of the Common Market in Designations of Origin Devolution of powers regarding designations of origin is twofold, both facets being equally significant as far as the preservation of the common market is concerned. Firstly, the establishment of a European geographical designations scheme has entailed the replacement of national schemes that associate the origin and the characteristics of products (4.1.); secondly, if a common market for Europe is to be achieved, the internal distribution of powers within member states must not stand in the way of said objective (4.2.). 4.1. European and national quality schemes for origin-labelled products: substitution or coexistence Here we will face up to a dilemma that has been coming up in European law regarding designations of origin since 1992. The disagreement lies in whether the institution of the European protection schemes of designations was consistent with existing protectionist national schemes. Doubts were raised as to whether the European- wide designations of origin that came into force in 1992 could stand alongside national schemes that protect designations of the same nature as those in Europe. Truly, those designations that registered as PDO or PGI when the European Register was set up were