Wine Law

21 protected by the states, especially wine designations. Therefore, it is only natural that we assess how appropriate it is for two systems, national and European, to coexist and whether it is the latter that should prevail to exercise the protection powers over designations. Shortly after being issued on 7 May, 1997, the Montagne judgement by the ECJ — also known as Pistre ruling —, Professor Jiménez Blanco asserted that it clarified matters over coexisting systems only partially as the controversy raged on in the case of those designations that, being covered by the Regulation, had not entered the register provided for therein. She argued that for them “the most consistent step to take would be to leave unaltered the protection that domestic systems would afford” 28 . Botana Agra, in her 2001 monograph 29 , opted also for the coexistence after the Chiciak and Fol judgement of 9 June 1998 had declared: “The 1992 regulation introduced the requirement for geographical names to be registered at Community level in order to enjoy protection in every Member State and defined the Community framework which was thenceforth to govern that protection, which is obtained only at the end of a compulsory notification, verification and registration procedure” (section 26). Exclusivity and substitution are reiterated by Judgement of the Court of 7 November 2000 ( Warsteiner Brauerei ruling, in case C-312/98, section 50) and even more categorically by Judgement of the Court of 6 March 2003, Commission v. France : “However, since the entry into force of Regulation nº 2081/92, the purpose of which is specifically to define the circumstances in which the protection of a name establishing a link between, on the one hand, agricultural products and foodstuffs and, on the other hand, a particular geographical origin may be introduced, 28 JIMÉNEZ BLANCO, P. (1997), “La protección de las denominaciones geográficas en el ámbito comunitario. Comentario a la sentencia del TJCE de 7 de mayo de 1997”, Diario La Ley , vol. 5. 29 BOTANA AGRA, M. J., Las denominaciones de origen , op . cit ., p. 176. The author supports it as follows: “on the one hand, as far as the common protection is concerned, within the EU, the applicable system will have to be established by Regulation (CE) No. 2081/92; on the other hand, within the member state where the designation of origin or geographical indication has national protection, those designations or indications may continue availing themselves, within the national boundaries, of said protection insofar as their application may not contradict or oppose the provisions contained in the European regulation” (translated from the Spanish original).