Foodstuff Tradition protection: EU law on Traditional specialities guaranteed and UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Ermenegildo Mario Appiano1 I. Introduction. – II. TSG discipline: abandoning the requirement of “specificity” in favour of mere tradition, understood as an intrinsic value. – III. The product specification. – IV. Protection: object. – V. (continued): extension. – VI. The relationship with geographical indications and trademarks. – VII. The holder of the right to the TSG. – VIII. Controls. – IX. The governance body. – X. The procedure for TSG recognition: the national phase. – XI. (continued): the EU phase. – XII. The procedure for amending the product specification. – XIII. UNESCO Heritage. – XIV. In conclusion. The new European regulation on quality products (EU/2024/1143) seeks to revitalise Traditional Specialities Guaranteed (TSG), not so much by reforming their definition-already significantly altered in the past-but mainly by shaping their substantive protection and procedural rules based on the framework established for geographical indications. Nevertheless, significant differences remain. The aim is therefore to understand how the current notion of TSG has evolved and to compare its regulation with that of designations of origin. This analysis will reveal, among other things, that tradition is a common heritage of all quality products, but it is crystallised in TSGs’ product specifications (this aspect bears some resemblance to UNESCO recognition of certain cultural knowledge and practices related to food and drinks as intangible cultural heritage), whereas tradition remains dynamically embedded within PDOs’ product specifications. Keywords: Traditional Specialities Guaranteed, TSG, tradition, product specification, ownership, protection, procedure, geographical indications, trade marks, Italian traditional food products, nutriscore, NOVA, UNESCO heritage. DOI 10.60559/gl18 1 https://dirittovitivinicolo.eu/ermenegildo-mario-appiano/
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