Legal Affairs Committee adopts position to protect local craft

Article summary

The European Parliament has announced how the Legal Affairs Committee unanimously adopted a draft negotiating mandate on legislation to introduce a geographical indication (GI) that protects the names of local craft and industrial products. EU Member States would be required to designate a competent authority in charge of checking that a GI has been placed on the market in accordance with the product specification. The European Parliament outlined how this would close the gap between diverging national systems by protecting goods such as jewellery, natural stones, textiles, lace, cutlery, glass and porcelain both in the EU and internationally.