23.7.2005

Official Journal of the European Union

C 182/9

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Second Chamber)

of 12 May 2005

in Case C-347/03: Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale amministrativo regionale del Lazio Regione autonoma Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Agenzia regionale per lo sviluppo rurale (ERSA) v Ministero delle Politiche Agricole e Forestali (1)

(External relations - EC-Hungary Agreement on the reciprocal protection and control of wine names - Protection in the Community of a name relating to certain wines originating in Hungary - Geographical indication ‘Tokaj’ - Exchange of letters - Possibility of using the word ‘Tocai’ in the term ‘Tocai friulano’ or ‘Tocai italico’ for the description and presentation of certain Italian wines, in particular quality wines produced in specified regions (‘quality wines psr’), during a transitional period expiring on 31 March 2007 - Exclusion of that possibility at the end of the transitional period - Validity - Legal basis - Article 133 EC - Principles of international law relating to treaties - Articles 22 to 24 of the TRIPs Agreement - Protection of fundamental rights - Right to property)

(2005/C 182/17)

Language of the case: Italian

In Case C-347/03: reference for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC from the Tribunale amministrativo regionale del Lazio (Italy), made by decision of 9 June 2003, received at the Court on 7 August 2003, in the proceedings between Regione autonoma Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Agenzia regionale per lo sviluppo rurale (ERSA), on the one hand, and Ministero delle Politiche Agricole e Forestali, on the other, third party: Regione Veneto — the Court (Second Chamber) composed of C.W.A. Timmermans (Rapporteur), President of the Chamber, R. Silva de Lapuerta, R. Schintgen, G. Arestis and J. Klučka, Judges; F.G. Jacobs, Advocate General; L. Hewlett, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, gave a judgment on 12 May 2005, in which it ruled:

The Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Hungary, of the other part, is not the legal basis of Council Decision 93/724/EC of 23 November 1993 concerning the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Hungary on the reciprocal protection and control of wine names.

2.	Article 133 EC, as referred to in the preamble to Decision 93/724, is an appropriate legal basis for the conclusion by the Community alone of the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Hungary on the reciprocal protection and control of wine names.

The prohibition of use of the name ‘Tocai’ in Italy after 31 March 2007 resulting from the exchange of letters concerning Article 4 of the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Hungary on the reciprocal protection and control of wine names is not contrary to the rules governing homonyms laid down in Article 4(5) of that agreement.

The Joint Declaration concerning Article 4(5) of the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Hungary on the reciprocal protection and control of wine names, in so far as it states in the first paragraph that in respect of Article 4(5)(a) of that agreement the Contracting Parties noted that at the time of the negotiations they were not aware of any specific case to which the provisions referred to could be applicable, is not a clear misrepresentation of reality.

Articles 22 to 24 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, set out in Annex 1 C to the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organisation, approved on behalf of the Community, as regards matters within its competence, by Council Decision 94/800/EC of 22 December 1994, are to be interpreted as meaning that, in a case such as that in the main proceedings, which concerns homonymity between a geographical indication of a third country and a name including the name of a vine variety used for the description and presentation of certain Community wines made from it, those provisions do not require that that name may continue to be used in the future notwithstanding the twofold circumstance that it has been used in the past by the producers concerned either in good faith or for at least 10 years prior to 15 April 1994 and that it clearly identifies the country, region or area of origin of the protected wine in such a way as not to mislead the consumer.

The right to property does not preclude the prohibition on use by the operators concerned in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Italy) of the word ‘Tocai’ in the term ‘Tocai friulano’ or ‘Tocai italico’ for the description and presentation of certain Italian quality wines produced in specified regions at the end of a transitional period expiring on 31 March 2007, resulting from the exchange of letters concerning Article 4 of the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Hungary on the reciprocal protection and control of wine names annexed to that agreement but not referred to in the latter.

(1) OJ C 264 of 1.11.2003.