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THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 207, in conjunction with Article 218(9) thereof,Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,Whereas:
(1)The Union is a Contracting Party to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications (the ‘Geneva Act’)note, which entered into force on 26 February 2020. Pursuant to Article 21 of the Geneva Act, its Contracting Parties are members of the Assembly of the Special Union established by the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration (the ‘Lisbon Agreement’).
(2)Pursuant to Article 22(2)(a)(iii) of the Geneva Act, the Assembly of the Special Union is empowered to amend the Regulations under the Geneva Act.
(3)During the sixty-sixth Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to be held from 8 to 17 July 2025, the Assembly of the Special Union will be invited to adopt amendments to the Common Regulations under the Lisbon Agreement and the Geneva Act (the ‘Common Regulations’).
(4)It is appropriate to establish the position to be taken on the Union’s behalf within the Assembly of the Special Union as those amendments will be binding on the Union.
(5)In its sixth session, which took place in Geneva from 17 to 20 March 2025, the Working Group on the Development of the Lisbon System (the ‘Lisbon Working Group’) recommended to the Assembly of the Special Union the adoption of various amendments to the Common Regulations, as proposed by the WIPO Secretariat and modified by the Lisbon Working Group. The Lisbon System is the international system for the international registration of appellations of origin and geographical indications.
(6)The proposed amendment to Rule 1(1) of the Common Regulations updates the definition of ‘official form’ in subparagraph (vi) thereof to include a reference to the electronic interface (e-Lisbon), which has been made available by the International Bureau of WIPO to competent authorities of the Lisbon System on WIPO’s website.
(7)The proposed amendments to Rule 8(9) of the Common Regulations update the current version of that provision by clarifying the relevant date for determining the amount of fees to be paid under Rules 5(2)(c), 15(2)(a), 7(4)(a) and 7(4)(d) of the Common Regulations as well as in all other cases under the current version of Rule 8(9), respectively, taking into account the different specificities under the Common Regulations.
(8)The proposed amendments to Rule 15(1) of the Common Regulations introduce new subparagraphs (vii) to (ix) to extend the list of modifications that can be recorded in the WIPO International Register. The proposed new paragraph (5) of Rule 15 of the Common Regulations introduces the possibility for a Contracting Party to notify a refusal if it is not in a position to ensure the protection of an appellation of origin or geographical indication because of such a modification.
(9)The proposed amendment to Rule 18(4) of the Common Regulations aligns the wording of that provision with the proposed new paragraph (5) of Rule 15 of the Common Regulations.
(10)The Union should support the adoption of those amendments,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1#
The position to be taken on the Union’s behalf within the Assembly of the Special Union, established by the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration, to be held in the framework of the Assemblies of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization on 8 to 17 July 2025, shall be to support the adoption of the amendments to the Common Regulations under the Lisbon Agreement and the Geneva Act of that Agremeent as set out in the Annex to this Decision.The representatives of the Union may also agree to modifications to the proposed amendments, provided that they do not significantly alter their substance.
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