Wine Law

34 environment and not just the human intervention —, but rejects it for industrial products such as carpets and tablecloths, never mind services 47 . 5.3. Personal assessment The efficiency of a legal instrument may well rely on how rigorously the law defines it. In addition to that, there is the historical background, as any law takes hold and becomes well-established as it is applied. Bearing that mind and the number of years since designations of origin came into effect, applied to agricultural products and foodstuffs (to be understood as unprocessed products or subjected to basic treatments), and characterised from the outset by the close connection between the environment and the characteristics of the product, in which natural factors — as well as and above human factors — become decisive, it does not seem appropriate to apply them to other products for which there isn’t such a relevant link, as discussed. Evidently, for industrial products, broadly speaking, the environment is largely irrelevant, and that despite that 1953 Regulatory Act by the Ministry for Energy and Industrial Strategy referencing products of this nature “with a manufacturing process inherently linked to a geographical place”. Anyway, even if that process is deemed as “linked” (it could always be transported to or from it) to the relevant area, the added value that that would bring with it can only justify its protection — legitimate, no doubt — as indication of origin (although the usual lack of public supervision over this status diminishes its commercial value) or, at best, as geographical indication. Indeed, I have already pointed out that the extension of the scope of this status to non-agricultural products, provided that there is evidence of a real connection, particularly due to the well-established human intervention, distinguishing it from the mere indication of origin, as well as favouring those products directly affected, would help differentiate and establish the protection scheme for the designation of origin status. When designations of origin are applied to provision of services, rather than the geographical origin of products, the undermining of the concept appears to worsen. If 47 La protección jurídica… , ibid , p. 68.