Mantrov Vadim, Recent legislative developments in the regulation of IGOs at the EU level: towards a system

Indications of geographical origin (IGOs) are part of unitary rights, the regulation of which is split between different European Union legal acts depending on a particular type of product. The extent of this regulation is different both regarding registration and protection requirements, depending on the fact whether IGOs refer to agricultural products and foodstuffs or not. Recent legislative developments regarding IGOs, especially in the case of IGOs in respect of wines and aromatised wines, may be considered as a further step towards a complete system of protection of IGOs as unitary rights. Yet, these legislative developments did not lead to the regulation of IGOs at the EU level based on common registration and protection criteria.