{"id":38298,"date":"2025-02-06T13:18:05","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T12:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/?p=38298"},"modified":"2025-02-06T14:15:47","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T13:15:47","slug":"emmentaler-remains-generic-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/emmentaler-remains-generic-term\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Commission confirms: \u201cEmmentaler\u201d remains a generic term"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"font-size: 1.9em; line-height: 1.2em;\">The cheese is not recognized as a protected designation of origin.<\/h2>\n<p>On January 23, 2025, the EU Commission ruled that the term \u201cEmmentaler\u201d will not be recognized as a protected designation of origin within the European Union. Instead, it confirmed that the term is a generic name that may be used freely. BOEHMERT &amp; BOEHMERT successfully represented an international dairy consortium in this case, preventing Switzerland from monopolizing the name.<\/p>\n<h3>Background: Dispute Over Origin Protection<\/h3>\n<p>In March 2024, Switzerland applied for the international registration of the term \u201cEmmentaler\u201d as a protected designation of origin under the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement. The goal was to reserve the name exclusively for cheese produced in the Swiss Emmental region. However, the EU Commission\u2019s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development rejected the application, arguing that the term is no longer historically or culturally limited to Switzerland.<\/p>\n<h3>EU Commission\u2019s Decision<\/h3>\n<p>In its Implementing Decision (EU) 2025\/107, the EU Commission justified its ruling by stating that \u201cEmmentaler\u201d has been produced in several EU countries since the 19th century. Three protected geographical indications within the EU already include \u201cEmmentaler\u201d or a linguistic variation of the name, referring to cheese produced outside Switzerland:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cAllg\u00e4uer Emmentaler\u201d (PDO), produced in Germany,<\/li>\n<li>\u201cEmmental fran\u00e7ais est-central\u201d (PGI), produced in France,<\/li>\n<li>\u201cEmmental de Savoie\u201d (PGI), also produced in France.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Implications: Legal Certainty and Fair Competition<\/h3>\n<p>The EU Commission\u2019s decision ensures legal certainty and prevents market distortions, as the term \u201cEmmentaler\u201d has long been recognized internationally as a type of cheese with characteristic holes\u2014rather than as an indication of Swiss origin.<\/p>\n<p>Dairies in the EU and beyond retain their production freedom. Manufacturers may continue using the name as long as they comply with national production regulations, such as Germany\u2019s Cheese Ordinance. Protecting the term as a PDO would have led to significant adaptation costs and market confusion. In Austria alone, approximately 14,000 tons of Emmentaler are produced annually\u2014more than in Switzerland itself.<\/p>\n<p>By classifying \u201cEmmentaler\u201d as a generic term, the EU Commission also strengthens the position of other countries seeking to defend traditional names against excessive protection claims. Furthermore, the case highlights the importance of strategic legal representation that takes into account both international agreements and European regulations, as well as industry-specific market and consumer perceptions.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The cheese is not recognized as a protected designation of origin. On January 23, 2025, the EU Commission ruled that the term \u201cEmmentaler\u201d will not be recognized as a protected designation of origin within the European Union. Instead, it confirmed&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":30544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"legal_areas":[222,221],"class_list":["post-38298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ip-update-en","legal_areas-trade-marks","legal_areas-unfair-competition"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>EU Commission confirms: \u201cEmmentaler\u201d remains a generic term<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"BOEHMERT &amp; BOEHMERT attorney at law Dr. Julian Wernicke on the EU Commission&#039;s decision on the term \u201cEmmentaler\u201d. Find our more here!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/emmentaler-remains-generic-term\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EU Commission confirms: \u201cEmmentaler\u201d remains a generic term\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BOEHMERT &amp; BOEHMERT attorney at law Dr. Julian Wernicke on the EU Commission&#039;s decision on the term \u201cEmmentaler\u201d. 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