Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/27 of 30 October 2024 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 of the European Parliament and of the Council with rules concerning the registration and the protection of geographical indications, traditional specialities guaranteed and optional quality terms and repealing Delegated Regulation (EU) No 664/2014
CHAPTER I — INTRODUCTORY PROVISION
Subject matter
This Regulation supplements Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 in respect of the following matters:
(a)
as regards geographical indications:
(i)
procedural rules for opposition;
(ii)
procedures for Union amendments;
(iii)
the approval and communication of standard amendments, including temporary amendments;
(iv)
the relationship between Union amendments and standard amendments;
(v)
requirements for sourcing of raw materials for geographical indications of agricultural products;
(b)
as regards traditional specialities guaranteed:
(i)
procedures for application for registration;
(ii)
procedural rules for opposition;
(iii)
procedures for approval of amendments to the product specification;
(iv)
rules concerning the use of traditional specialities guaranteed designating a product used as an ingredient in the name of a processed product.
CHAPTER II — GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
Procedural rules for opposition
1. When the Commission receives an opposition pursuant to Article 17(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143, it shall inform the applicant about the opposition without delay.
2. The period of 3 months during which the opponent and the applicant may engage in appropriate consultations, referred to in Article 17(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143, shall start on the date on which the invitation to them is delivered by electronic means.
3. For the purposes of Article 17(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143, the name and contact details of the authority or person that submitted the opposition shall be communicated to the authority, body or person that submitted the application for registration or for approval of a Union amendment or the request of cancellation.
4. In case the Member States consider that the consequent changes to the application for registration referred to in Article 17(6) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 are substantial, thus affecting interests that had not been considered in the national opposition procedure carried out in accordance with Article 10(4) of that Regulation, those changes shall be subject to an additional opposition procedure. The applicant Member States shall be allowed to carry out the additional opposition procedure after notifying the result of the consultation to the Commission in accordance with Article 17(6) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143. In that additional opposition procedure, the Member State shall ensure that any natural or legal person having a legitimate interest and established or resident in the territory of the Member State in question is allowed to submit an opposition before the amended version of the single document and of the product specification is communicated to the Commission, in view of repeating the examination as referred to in Article 17(7) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143.
Union amendment of geographical indications for which a single document has never been published
An application for approval of a Union amendment to the product specification of a geographical indication, for which a single document or equivalent has never been published in the Official Journal of the European Union , shall include a single document. The single document shall comply with Article 50(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143, Article 95 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 or Article 23 of Regulation (EU) 2019/787, depending on whether the geographical indication designates an agricultural product, a wine or a spirit drink, respectively.
Member State approval of standard amendments to the product specification of a geographical indication
1. For the purposes of Article 24 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143, applications for approval of standard amendment to a product specification shall be submitted to the authorities of the Member State in whose territory the defined geographical area of the product concerned is located.
2. Member States may provide that applications for standard amendments are published for opposition at national level. If national opposition is not provided for, and if the application for approval of a standard amendment to a product specification does not come from the applicant producer group that had submitted the application for protection of the name or names to which the product specification refers, the Member State shall give that applicant producer group the opportunity to comment on the application, if that applicant producer group still exists.
3. The application for approval of a standard amendment shall provide a description of the standard amendments and a summary of the reasons for which the amendments are required, and shall demonstrate that the proposed amendments qualify as standard in accordance with Article 24(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143.
4. Where the Member State considers that the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 and of the provisions adopted pursuant to that Regulation are met, it may approve the standard amendment. The approval decision shall include the electronic reference to the published amended consolidated product specification and, where relevant, the amended consolidated single document. When the standard amendment concerns a geographical indication for which a single document has never been published in the Official Journal of the European Union , a single document shall always be included.
5. The approval decision including the related single document, where relevant, shall be made public by the Member States. The approved standard amendment shall be applicable in the Member State concerned following the applicable national rules for entry into force.
6. In case of standard amendment to the product specification concerning a geographical indication for which a single document has never been published in the Official Journal of the European Union , the single document shall be published for information at Union level.
Communication of standard amendments
1. The Member State shall communicate approved standard amendments to the Commission no later than 1 month following the date on which the national approval decision was made public.
2. A decision approving standard amendments concerning products originating in third countries shall be communicated to the Commission by a producer group, either directly or via the authorities of the third country concerned, no later than 1 month following the date on which the relevant decision was approved.
3. The communication of an approved standard amendment to the Commission shall be considered duly made if it contains all the elements listed in Article 12 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/26 ( 6 ) .
4. In the event that an approval of a standard amendment results in an amendment of the single document, the Commission shall publish the communication of the standard amendment and the amended single document in the Official Journal of the European Union , C series, within 3 months from the date on which it has received the communication of that standard amendment.
5. In the event that an approval of a standard amendment, duly communicated, does not result in an amendment of the single document, the Commission shall make public in the Union register of geographical indications referred to in Article 22 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143, the communication of the standard amendment within 3 months from the date on which it has received the communication of that standard amendment.
6. The Commission shall not publish a communication of approval of a standard amendment which has not been duly made in accordance with paragraph 3. The Commission shall inform the authority or producer group that the communication of the standard amendment is not duly made within 3 months. In case of absence of reply after 2 months from receiving the letter of the Commission, the unduly made communication shall be deemed as not submitted.
7. The Member State shall communicate, without delay, to the Commission:
(a)
any immediately applicable judicial or administrative decision annulling a decision approving a standard amendment;
(b)
the consolidated single document and the electronic reference to the product specification, or, in case of an amendment not modifying the single document, only the electronic reference to the product specification, updated following the annulment of that standard amendment.
The Commission shall publish the communication of a national decision annulling a standard amendment in the Official Journal of the European Union , C series, or make it public in the Union register of geographical indications referred to in Article 22 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143, in accordance with paragraph 4 of this Article, mutatis mutandis , or Article 16(5) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/26, as appropriate.
8. The Member State or the third country or producer group referred to in paragraph 2 that communicated a standard amendment to the Commission shall remain responsible for its content.
9. Without prejudice of Article 4(5), standard amendments shall be applicable in the territory of the Union from the date on which they were published pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Article or made public pursuant to paragraph 5 of this Article.
10. Where the defined geographical area covers more than one Member State, each Member State concerned shall apply the procedure for the standard amendment separately. The standard amendment shall be applicable in the territory of the Member States concerned only after the last national approval decision becomes applicable. The Member State being the last to approve the standard amendment shall send the Commission the relevant communication not later than 1 month following the date on which its approval decision was made public.
If one or more of the Member States concerned do not adopt the national approval decision referred to in the first subparagraph, any of the Member States concerned may submit that application under the Union amendment procedure. In this case, the Member State applying for approval of a Union amendment shall demonstrate that the standard amendment procedure had failed to conclude in one or more of the Member States the geographical indication originates from. The related Union opposition procedure shall be open to all Member States with the exclusion of the Member State applicant for the approval of the Union amendment.
11. Paragraph 10 shall apply mutatis mutandis where a part of the defined geographical area concerned is located in the territory of a third country.
12. The communication of approval of a standard amendment of the product specification of a geographical indication for which a single document has never been published in the Official Journal of the European Union shall always be accompanied by a single document to be published for information at Union level.
Relationship between Union amendments and standard amendments
1. Where a standard amendment implying amendment of the single document is approved, while an application for approval of a Union amendment is pending with the Commission, the Member State concerned shall update the single document included in the application for approval of a Union amendment accordingly. If the pending Union amendment has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union , for opposition, the updated version of the single document shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union , L series, as an annex to the implementing regulation approving the Union amendment.
2. Where the amended version of the single document included in an application for standard amendment approved at national level does not take into account the latest Union amendments that have been approved, that standard amendment shall not be published in the Official Journal of the European Union . The Member State that approved that standard amendment shall send to the Commission the consolidated version of the single document as amended by both the Union and the standard amendments for publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .
3. A standard amendment included in an application for approval of a Union amendment which is inextricably linked to that Union amendment shall exceptionally be considered as part of that Union amendment and shall be approved by the Commission together with the Union amendment. In such cases, the inextricable link between the Union amendment and the standard amendment shall be explained in the application for approval of the Union amendment.
Temporary amendments to a product specification of a geographical indication
1. Temporary amendments to a product specification shall be approved and made public by the Member State in whose territory the defined geographical area of the geographical indication concerned is located. Temporary amendments may concern a part of the geographical area.
2. Temporary amendments shall be communicated to the Commission together with the reasons supporting them and the national approval decision no later than 1 month following the date on which that decision was made public. A temporary amendment shall be applicable in the Member State concerned following the applicable national rules for entry into force.
3. Each temporary amendment shall apply for a limited period of time set out by the authority approving the amendment. It may only be renewed if the exceptional circumstances referred to in Article 24(5) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 on the basis of which it was first approved still exist. A renewal of temporary amendments shall be communicated to the Commission following the procedure referred to in this Article.
4. Where the geographical area covers more than one Member State, each of the Member States concerned shall apply the procedure for temporary amendments referred to in paragraph 1 separately.
5. Temporary amendments concerning geographical indications originating in third countries shall be communicated to the Commission, together with the reasons supporting them, by a producer group, either directly or via the authorities of that third country, no later than 1 month following the date on which the temporary amendment was approved.
6. The communication of an approved temporary amendment to the Commission shall be considered to be duly made when it contains the elements listed in Article 13 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/26.
7. The Commission shall make public the communication of temporary amendments in the Union register of geographical indications referred to in Article 22 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 within 3 months from the date on which it has received the communication of temporary amendments. Without prejudice of paragraph 2, temporary amendments shall be applicable in the territory of the Union from the date on which they were made public by the Commission.
8. The Member State, third country or producer group referred to in paragraph 5 that communicated a temporary amendment to the Commission shall remain responsible for its content.
CHAPTER III — SPECIAL RULES FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
Sourcing of raw materials for protected geographical indications
The justification referred to in Article 47(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 shall be required also when the requirement that specific steps of production that must take place in the defined geographical area results in restrictions to the sourcing of raw materials.
CHAPTER IV — TRADITIONAL SPECIALITIES GUARANTEED
Limitation of length of product specifications for traditional specialities guaranteed
The product specification referred to in Article 54 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 shall be concise and shall not exceed 5 000 words, except in duly justified cases.
An application for approval of an amendment of the product specification, referred to in Article 28 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/26, shall be concise and shall not exceed 7 500 words, product specification included, except in duly justified cases.
Procedural rules for opposition
1. When the Commission receives an opposition pursuant to Article 61(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143, it shall inform the applicant about the opposition without delay.
2. The period of 3 months during which the opponent and the applicant may engage in appropriate consultations, referred to in Article 61(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143, shall start on the date on which the invitation to them is delivered by electronic means.
3. For the purposes of Article 61(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143, the name and contact details of the authority or person that submitted the opposition shall be communicated to the authority, body or person that submitted the application for registration or for approval of an amendment or the request of cancellation.
4. In case the Member States consider that the consequent changes to the application for registration referred to in Article 61(6) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 are substantial, thus affecting interests that had not been considered in the national opposition procedure carried out in accordance with Article 56(3) of that Regulation, those changes shall be subject to an additional opposition procedure. The applicant Member States shall be allowed to carry out the additional opposition procedure after notifying the result of the consultation to the Commission in accordance with Article 61(6) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143. In that additional opposition procedure, the Member State shall ensure that any natural or legal person having a legitimate interest and established or resident in the territory of the Member State in question is allowed to submit an opposition before the amended version of the product specification is communicated to the Commission in view of repeating the examination, as referred to in Article 61(7) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143.
Amendments to a product specification of traditional specialities guaranteed
The approval by the Commission of an application for approval of an amendment to a product specification of a traditional speciality guaranteed shall only cover the amendments included in the application referred to in Article 66(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143.
Use of traditional specialities guaranteed designating a product used as an ingredient in the name of a processed product
Without prejudice to Articles 68 and 70 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 and to Articles 7 and 17 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 7 ) , the traditional speciality guaranteed designating a product used as an ingredient in a processed product may be used in the name of that processed product, or in its labelling, or in its advertising material where:
(a)
the processed product does not contain any other product comparable to the ingredient designated by the traditional speciality guaranteed;
(b)
the ingredient designated by the traditional speciality guaranteed is used in sufficient quantities to confer an essential characteristic on the processed product concerned; and
(c)
the percentage of the ingredient designated by the traditional speciality guaranteed in the processed product is indicated in the label.
CHAPTER V — FINAL PROVISIONS
Repeal
Delegated Regulation (EU) No 664/2014 is repealed.
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
