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Incorporating Cultural Heritage in the Proposal for a Regulation on Geographical Indications protection for Craft and Industrial products

Publicerad i Stockholm IP Law Review 2023 #1, december 2023 s. 5–14

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The European Commission finally unveiled, in early April 2022, its Proposal for a Regulation on Geographical Indication protection for craft and industrial products. The new Regulation aims to fill the legislative gap that concerns this section of the Single Market. The adoption of the new Regulation will extend the current agricultural products sui generis Geographical Indication framework also to non-agricultural products.

This piece of legislation has been several years in the making, and during this time several references have been made to Geographical Indications as an instrument to be used for the protection of European Cultural Heritage and traditions.

This article, after giving a brief overview of the Proposal and its backdrop, tackles the need for defining what is to be regarded as European Cultural Heritage, before suggesting possible approaches to be followed in order to incorporate cultural heritage into the European Geographical Indications scheme.