CHAPTER IIPROTECTED DESIGNATIONS OF ORIGIN AND GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
SECTION 2 Objection procedure
Article 13Restrictions on the use of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications
1.
Without prejudice to Article 102 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, the Commission may adopt implementing acts granting a transitional period of up to five years to enable products originating in a Member State or a third country, the designation of which consists of or contains a name that contravenes Article 103(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, to continue to use the designation under which they were marketed.
The granting of such transitional period is conditional upon the submission of an admissible statement of objection under Article 96(3) or Article 98 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 showing that the decision conferring protection over the name would jeopardise the existence:
(a)
of an entirely identical name or of a compound name, one term of which is identical to the name to be registered; or
(b)
of partially homonymous names or of other names similar to the name to be registered which refer to grapevine products which have been legally on the market for at least five years preceding the date of the publication provided for in Article 97(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013.
2.
The Commission may adopt implementing acts extending the transitional period referred to in paragraph 1 up to 15 years in duly justified cases where it is shown that:
(a)
the designation referred to in paragraph 1 has been in legal use consistently and fairly for at least 25 years before the application for protection was submitted to the Commission;
(b)
the purpose of using the designation referred to in paragraph 1 has not, at any time, been to profit from the reputation of the registered name and it is shown that the consumer has not been nor could have been misled as to the true origin of the product.
3.
When using a designation referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2, the indication of the country of origin shall clearly and visibly appear on the labelling.
4.
To overcome temporary difficulties, with the long-term objective of ensuring that all producers in the area concerned comply with the product specification, a Member State may grant protection for a transitional period, starting from the date on which the application is forwarded to the Commission, on condition that the operators concerned have legally marketed the grapevine products in question using the names concerned continuously for at least the five years prior to the lodging of the application to the authorities of the Member State and that these temporary difficulties had been raised in the national objection procedure referred to in Article 96(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013. The transitional period shall be as short as possible and shall not exceed 10 years.
The first subparagraph shall apply mutatis mutandis to a protected geographical indication or protected designation of origin referring to a geographical area situated in a third country, with the exception of the objection procedure.
Such transitional periods shall be indicated in the application file referred to in Article 94(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013.