Slovenia planning to take EU to court over Teran label
Slovenia is taking the EU to court over a decision to exempt Croatia from a ruling preventing the use of the name Teran for wines produced outside Western Slovenia.
Teran is a red grape variety native to the northern Adriatic, specifically parts of Friuli and Emilia-Romagna in Italy, where it is known as Terrano or Cagnina, the Karst plateau in Slovenia and parts of the Istrian peninsula in Croatia.
It is regarded as one of Slovenians best national grapes and producers wanted a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) label in 2009, four years before Croatia joined the EU. Therefore no Croatian wine labeled as Teran was allowed to be sold in the EU, but earlier this year the EC relented and said that Croatian producers in Istria could use the name of the grape on the label as long as ‘Hrvatska Istra’ or ‘Croatian Istria’ was featured more prominently alongside it.
“The wine Teran is (and will remain) a Slovenian PDO registered in the EU, meaning that under existing EU rules it is protected against any commercial use of this name by other wines that do not respect the rules provided for in the technical file of the PDO Teran of the Slovenian Karst region,” said the EU.
“Wines that do not respect these rules cannot be placed on the EU market. However, under EU rules, a limited exception can be established for the use of the name of a grape variety that coincides with a PDO for wines if justified by existing labelling practices, as is the case with teran/Teran.”
Slovenia immediately lodged a complaint and even accused Croatia of presenting “partially forged” documents in order to be given the concession. Meanwhile the Slovenian minister of Agriculture, Dejan Zidan, told the EU Agriculture and Fishery Council in Brussels this week that the ruling could lead to a loss of income, consumer confusion and a devaluation of the entire PDO system.
“This case shows that no protected designation of origin wine is not safe and that the Commission may, in a similar (non-transparent) way intervene in all other existing PDO wines. This opens a Pandora’s box.” Although Slovenia has until 19 September to prepare its case, Zidan said one would be filed by the end of August.
Other countries including France, Italy, Slovakia and Hungary are also said to be unhappy at the possibility of exemptions being granted to existing PDOs.
Slovenia and Croatia both declared independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and are the only two of seven former Yugoslav states to have joined the EU so far, Slovenia in 2004 and Croatia in 2013.