national specific protection for geographical indications for craft and industrial productsmeans an intellectual property title under national, regional or local law specifically protecting names that identify craft and industrial products with a given quality, reputation or other characteristic linked to their geographical origin, with the exception of trade marks.
notice of commentsmeans a written observation lodged with the Office indicating inaccuracies in the application without triggering an opposition procedure;
producermeans an operator engaged in one or more production steps for craft and industrial products;
producer groupmeans any association, irrespective of its legal form, mainly composed of producers working with the same product;
product certification bodymeans a body, irrespective of its legal form, which is entrusted with the task of certifying that products designated by a geographical indication comply with the product specification;
production stepmeans any stage of production, including manufacturing, processing, obtaining, extracting, cutting or preparation, up to the point where the product is in a form such that it can be placed on the market;
self-declarationmeans a document in a harmonised form, as set out in Annex I, in which producers, which can be represented by an authorised representative, indicate on their sole responsibility that the product is compliant with the corresponding product specification and that all necessary controls and checks for the proper determination of conformity have been carried out in order to demonstrate the lawful use of the geographical indication to the competent authorities of Member States;
the Officemeans the European Union Intellectual Property Office established by Regulation (EU) 2017/1001;