Application

The application, including all necessary documents, must be submitted to BAVG, Spargelfeldstraße 191, 1220 Vienna. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via the contact form.

An application for entry in the register maintained by the European Commission(eAmbrosia - Union register of geographical indications) can only be submitted by an association working with the product. A group is any type of association, regardless of its legal form, in particular composed of producers or processors of the same product. A specific legal form is therefore not required. In exceptional cases, a single natural or legal person may also submit an application for registration.

The application must contain the following information

• the name and contact details of the applicant organisation,
• the single document
• the product specification,
• the accompanying documents referred to in Article 12(1) (see Regulation (EU) 2024/1143).

The examination and registration procedure is divided into a national and an EU phase.

The BAVG is responsible for carrying out the procedures in accordance with Section 14 (1) EuQuaDG (EU Quality Schemes Implementation Act, Federal Law Gazette I No. 130/2015, as amended). The applicable legal bases are Regulation (EU) No. 2019/787, Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 with the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/27 and the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/26. The aim of these procedures is to establish Union-wide protection through entry in a register maintained by the European Commission.

The basis is the product specification, which defines the respective product and specifies the manufacturing process. If manufacturers wish to use the protected name, they must comply with the manufacturing process.

The following applications must be submitted to and examined by the BAVG in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2024/1143

1. Registration of a geographical indication for spirit drinks in accordance with Article 9, Article 10(1), (3) - (8), Article 13(1) and (4), Article 14(2) and (3),
2. Amendment of the product specification in accordance with Article 24,
3. Cancellation of the registration pursuant to Article 25,
4. Opposition in the national procedure,
5. Opposition in the European procedure.

Once the application for registration has been submitted to the BAVG, the national examination procedure regarding the protectability of the designation begins. The application documents are also published on the website so that any person with a legitimate interest and domicile/registered office in Austria can lodge an objection to protection within a specified period (at least one month).

Once the national procedure has been successfully completed, the application is sent electronically to the European Commission, which then also checks the application for compliance with the requirements of the Regulation. If the European Commission is also of the opinion that the requirements are met, the product specification is published in the Official Journal C of the European Union and the objection procedure is carried out (deadline: 3 months).

The objection can be based on the following grounds:

• the proposed registration is not compatible with the Regulation (for details, see Article 19(1)(a) and (b) Regulation (EU) 2024/1143) or
• the use of the name for similar agricultural products or foodstuffs is lawful, recognised and economically significant (Article 19(1)(c) Regulation (EU) 2024/1143)

In the event of an objection, the Commission shall examine the admissibility of the objection and, if the objection is upheld, shall request that consultations be held, which may not exceed three months. At the end of the period or, if earlier, at the end of the consultations, the applicant and the objector shall inform the Commission whether and why an agreement has been reached. The Commission will now process the application for registration again.

If a positive decision is reached, the European Commission issues an implementing regulation for entry in the register of geographicalindications (eAmbrosia - Union register of geographical indications) and publishes this implementing regulation in the Official Journal of the European Union, Part L. It enters into force 20 days after publication and protection is granted from this date. The protection of a registered name is unlimited in time. Furthermore, protected designations may only be used for a product that complies with the specifications.

Registration provides protection against

• misuse/misleading use,
• imitation,
• misleading consumers throughout the European Union.

Self-checks must be carried out before the product is placed on the market. Compliance with the production method defined in the product specification must be checked by accredited product certification bodies. The designation may therefore only be used by manufacturers who have a contract with one of these product certification bodies and are subject to their control. The labelling of "geographical indications for spirits" must be optionally identified by the corresponding logo (see above).

Standard amendment (previously "minor amendments") of the product specification, temporary amendment of the product specification, Union amendment (previously "non-minor amendments") of the product specification, as well as cancellation of the registration can be applied for.

A recognised producers' association may apply to amend the product specification of a registered "geographical indication for spirit drinks". The application must include a description and justification of the changes. It should be noted that there are two categories of amendments to the product specification:

Union amendments, which require an objection procedure at Union level, and standard amendments, which are dealt with at Member State or third country level.

An amendment is to be considered as a Union amendment if it results in a change to the single document or an equivalent document and either

(a) a change

• the name or the use of the name in the case of agricultural products;
• of the name or use of the name or category of the product or products designated by the geographical indication in the case of wine;
• of the name, part of the name or use of the name or category of the product or products designated by the geographical indication, or the legal name in the case of spirit drinks; or

(b) risks losing the link with the geographical area to which the single document relates; or

(c) results in further restrictions on the marketing of the product.

All other amendments that are not Union amendments shall be considered as standard amendments. Standard amendments shall be examined and authorised by the Member States or third countries in whose territory the geographical area of the product concerned is located and notified to the Commission. These amendments shall be made publicly available by the Commission.

In the case of a standard amendment, no objection procedure is carried out at Union level. For Union amendments, the same procedure must be followed as for the registration itself.

Cancellation can be requested by the producer organisation, by a member state or third country, by a natural or legal person with a legitimate interest or by the European Commission.

Reasons for cancellation are:

• Compliance with the product specification can no longer be guaranteed
• No product has been placed on the market under the designation (GI) in the last seven consecutive years.

The cancellation procedure also consists of an examination procedure and an objection procedure, whereby in the case of an objection it must be justified that the registered name is still relevant for the business.

After cancellation, this must also be published in the Official Journal of the European Union, Part L.