CHAPTER II

PROTECTED DESIGNATIONS OF ORIGIN AND GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
SECTION 4

Protection

Decision on protection
Article 17
1
Unless applications for protection of designations of origin or geographical indications are rejected pursuant to Articles 11, 12, 16 and 28, the Commission shall decide to protect the designations of origin or geographical indications.
2
Decisions on protection taken pursuant to Article 41 of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Register
Article 18
1
A
‘
register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications
’
, hereinafter
‘
the Register
’
, is established and kept updated by the Commission in accordance with Article 118n of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007. It is established in the electronic database
‘
E-Bacchus
’
on the basis of the decisions granting protection to the designations in question.
2
A designation of origin or geographical indication that has been accepted shall be recorded in the Register.
In the case of names registered under Article 118s(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, the Commission shall enter in the Register the data provided for in paragraph 3 of this Article.
3
The Commission shall enter the following data in the Register:
a
the protected designation;
b
the file number;
c
a record of the fact that the name is protected as either a geographical indication or designation of origin;
d
the name of the country or countries of origin;
e
the date of registration;
f
the reference to the legal instrument protecting the name;
g
the reference to the single document.
4
The register shall be made available to the public.

Protection
Article 19
1
Protection of a designation of origin or geographical indication shall run from the date on which it is entered in the Register.
2
In the event of unlawful use of a protected designation of origin or geographical indication, the competent authorities of the Member States shall on their own initiative, pursuant to Article 45(4) of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008, or at the request of a party, take the steps necessary to stop such unlawful use and to prevent any marketing or export of the products at issue.
3
The protection of a designation of origin or geographical indication shall apply to the whole denomination including its constitutive elements provided they are distinctive in themselves. A non-distinctive or generic element of a protected designation of origin or geographical indication shall not be protected.
Substituted by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 670/2011 of 12 July 2011 amending Regulation (EC) No 607/2009 laying down certain detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 as regards protected designations of origin and geographical indications, traditional terms, labelling and presentation of certain wine sector products.