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CLASS 46


Now in its twelfth year, Class 46 is dedicated to European trade mark law and practice. This weblog is written by a team of enthusiasts who want to spread the word and share their thoughts with others.

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Anthonia Ghalamkarizadeh
Birgit Clark
Blog Administrator
Christian Tenkhoff
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Stefan Schröter
Tomasz Rychlicki
Yvonne Onomor
MONDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2008
Bosnia-Herzegovina prepares for closer ties with EU

If you are trading with Bosnia and Herzegovina, check this out: it's the text of the Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters between the European Community, of the one part, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the other part. It's a vast document of some 390 pages, some of which look like this:

"Article 5: Protection of names referring to the Member States of the Community and to Bosnia and Herzegovina

1. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, references to the Member States of the Community, and other names used to indicate a Member State, for the purpose of identifying origin of the wine, spirit drink and aromatised wine:
(a) shall be reserved for wines, spirit drinks and aromatised wines originating in the Member State concerned; and
(b) shall not be used otherwise than under the conditions provided for by the laws and regulations of the Community.

2. In the Community, references to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other names used to indicate Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the purpose of identifying origin of the wine, spirit drink and aromatised wine:
(a) shall be reserved for wines, spirit drinks and aromatised wines originating in Bosnia and Herzegovina; and
(b) shall not be used otherwise than under the conditions provided for by the laws and regulations of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Article 6: Protection of geographical indications

1. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the geographical indications for the Community which are listed in Appendix 1, Part A:
(a) shall be protected for wines, spirit drinks and aromatised wines originating in the Community and
(b) shall not be used otherwise than under the conditions provided for by the laws and regulations of the Community.

2. In the Community, the geographical indications for Bosnia and Herzegovina which are listed in Appendix 1, Part B:
(a) shall be protected for wines, spirit drinks and aromatised wines originating in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and
(b) shall not be used otherwise than under the conditions provided for by the laws and regulations of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

3. The Parties shall take all measures necessary, in accordance with the Agreement in this Annex, for the reciprocal protection of the geographical indications referred to in Article 4(a)(ii) and 4(b)(ii), which are used for the description and presentation of wines, spirit drinks and aromatised wines originating in the territory of the Parties. To that end, each Party shall make use of the appropriate legal means referred to in Article 23 of the TRIPs Agreement to ensure an effective protection and prevent geographical indications from being used to identify wines, spirit drinks and aromatised wines not covered by the indications or the descriptions concerned.

4. The geographical indications referred to in Article 4 shall be reserved exclusively for the products originating in the territory of the Party to which they apply and may be used only under the conditions laid down in the laws and regulations of that Party.
5. The protection provided for in the Agreement in this Annex shall prohibit in particular any use of protected names for wines, spirit drinks and aromatised wines which do not originate in the geographical area indicated, and shall apply even when:
(a) the true origin of the wine, spirit drink or aromatised wine is indicated;
(b) the geographical indication in question is used in translation;
(c) the name is accompanied by terms such as ‘kind’, ‘type’, ‘style’, ‘imitation’, ‘method’ or other expressions of the sort;
(d) the protected name is used in any way for products falling under heading No 2009 of the Harmonised System of the International Convention on the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System, done at Brussels on 14 June 1983.

6. If geographical indications listed in Appendix 1 are homonymous, protection shall be granted to each indication provided that it has been used in good faith. The Parties shall mutually decide the practical conditions of use under which the homonymous geographical indications will be differentiated from each other, taking into account the need to ensure equitable treatment of the producers concerned and that consumers are not misled.

7. If a geographical indication listed in Appendix 1 is homonymous with a geographical indication for a third country, Article 23(3) of the TRIPs Agreement applies.

8. The provisions of the Agreement in this Annex shall in no way prejudice the right of any person to use, in the course of trade, that person's name or the name of that person's predecessor in business, except where such name is used in such a manner as to mislead consumers.

9. Nothing in the Agreement in this Annex shall oblige a Party to protect a geographical indication of the other Party listed in Appendix 1 which is not or ceases to be protected in its country of origin or which has fallen into disuse in that country.

10. On the entry into force of this Agreement, the Parties shall no longer deem that the protected geographical names listed in Appendix 1 are customary in the common language of the Parties as a common name for wines, spirit drinks and aromatised wines as foreseen in Article 24(6) of the TRIPs Agreement.

Article 7: Protection of traditional expressions

1. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the traditional expressions for the Community listed in Appendix 2:
(a) shall not be used for the description or presentation of wine originating in Bosnia and Herzegovina; and
(b) may not be used for the description or presentation of wine originating in the Community otherwise than in relation to the wines of the origin and the category and in the language as listed in Appendix 2 and under the conditions provided for by the laws and regulations of the Community.

2. Bosnia and Herzegovina shall take the measures necessary, in accordance with the Agreement in this Annex, for the protection of the traditional expressions referred to in Article 4 and used for the description and presentation of wines originating in the territory of the Community. To that end, Bosnia and Herzegovina shall provide
appropriate legal means to ensure an effective protection and prevent traditional expressions from being used to describe wine not entitled to those traditional expressions, even where the traditional expressions used are accompanied by expressions such as ‘kind’, ‘type’, ‘style’, ‘imitation’, ‘method’ or the like.

3. The protection of a traditional expression shall apply only:
(a) to the language or languages in which it appear(s) in Appendix 2 and not in translation; and (b) for a category of product in relation to which it is protected for the Community as set out in Appendix 2.

Article 8: Trade marks

1. The responsible offices of the Parties shall refuse the registration of a trade mark for a wine, spirit drink or aromatised wine which is identical with, or similar to, or contains or consists of a reference to a geographical indication protected under Article 4 with respect to such wine, spirit drink or aromatised wine not having this origin and not complying with the relevant rules governing its use.

2. The responsible offices of the Parties shall refuse the registration of a trade mark for a wine which contains or consists of a traditional expression protected under the Agreement in this Annex if the wine in question is not one to which the traditional expression is reserved as indicated in Appendix 2.

3. Bosnia and Herzegovina shall adopt the necessary measures to amend all trade marks so as to fully remove all reference to Community geographical indications protected under Article 4. All said references shall be removed at the latest by 31 December 2008".

Posted by: Blog Administrator @ 05.55
Tags: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Interim Agreement with EU,
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