Union register of geographical indications
Article 22
1. The Commission shall, by means of implementing acts and without applying the procedure referred to in Article 88(2), establish and maintain a publicly accessible Union register of geographical indications. That register shall have three parts corresponding to geographical indications of wine, of spirit drinks and of agricultural products respectively. Files entered in that register after 13 May 2024 shall be in a machine-readable format as defined in Article 2, point (13), of Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 28 ) . 2. The EUIPO shall maintain and keep up-to-date the Union register with respect to registrations, amendments and cancellations of geographical indications. 3. Each geographical indication of wine and of agricultural products shall be identified in the Union register of geographical indications as a ‘protected designation of origin’ or a ‘protected geographical indication’, as the case may be, and each geographical indication of spirit drinks shall be identified as a ‘geographical indication’. 4. Geographical indications concerning products from third countries that are protected in the Union under an international agreement to which the Union is a contracting party may be entered in the Union register of geographical indications. In such cases, the Commission shall, by means of implementing acts, register such geographical indications. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 88(2). As regards wine and agricultural products, unless specifically identified in the agreements referred to in the first subparagraph as protected designations of origin, the names of such products shall be entered in the Union register of geographical indications as protected geographical indications. 5. Each geographical indication shall be entered in the Union register of geographical indications in its original script. Where the original script is not in Latin characters, the geographical indication shall be transcribed or transliterated in Latin characters and both versions of the geographical indication shall be entered in the Union register of geographical indications and shall have equal status. 6. The Commission shall make public and regularly update the list of the international agreements referred to in paragraph 4 as well as the list of geographical indications protected under those agreements. 7. The Commission shall retain, in digital or paper form, documentation related to the registration of a geographical indication. In the event of cancellation of the registration, the Commission shall retain the documentation for 10 years thereafter. 8. The Commission shall, by means of implementing acts, specify the content and presentation of the Union register of geographical indications. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 88(2).