Commission Decision

of 19 April 2010

rejecting a list of applications for entry in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications provided for in Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006

(notified under document C(2010) 2385)

(Only the German text is authentic)

(2010/225/EU)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 of 20 March 2006 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs(1), and in particular the second subparagraph of Article 6(2) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) In 1994, Germany notified to the Commission a large number of applications for registration concerning mineral waters pursuant to Article 17(2) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92(2), 108 of which are still pending.

(2) In the case of the 31 names listed in Annex I to this Decision, the name proposed for registration is not included in the list of natural mineral waters recognized by Member States(3) in accordance with Article 1 of Directive 2009/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2009 on the exploitation and marketing of natural mineral waters(4). As a consequence, these names cannot be considered to be recognized in the internal market as marketable mineral waters and should accordingly not be registered.

(3) In the case of the 7 names listed in Annex II to this Decision, only the name and no further information has been submitted, thus preventing the Commission to perform the scrutiny required pursuant to Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 in order to assess whether these names meet the conditions for registration. Therefore, these names should not be registered.

(4) In the case of the 70 names included in the Annex III to this Decision, the Commission asked the German authorities, by a letter on 20 July 2004, to provide additional information, in particular on details of control bodies, willingness of producers to cover inspection costs and structures guaranteeing the marketing of the water under a single name. On 15 May 2006 and again on 22 May 2007 the European Commission asked the German authorities to either reply to the letter of 20 July 2004 or to withdraw the pending applications, and informed them that otherwise the European Commission would consider a rejection of these applications. As no additional information has been provided, these names should not be registered.

(5) In the light of the above, the applications for registration of the designations listed in the Annexes to this Decision should be rejected.

(6) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Protected Geographical Indications and Protected Designations of Origin,