since in the Alicante Nougat case26 the Court of Justice had instead denied that protection could be granted to them only if they were distinguishable, considering it legitimate even if only to protect the reputation acquired by the relevant geographical indication and thus prohibiting the use of its geographical name in combination with other products that may be similar organoleptically, but originate from different places. Although TSGs (their name was simplified, i.e. reduced to the current27) were still subject to separate regulations, in the second version the requirement for “specificity” was maintained in its entirety, on the one hand28, while the definition of “traditional” was introduced, on the other hand.29 The latter concept was formulated as follows: “proven usage on the Community market for a time period showing transmission between generations; this time period should be the one generally ascribed to one human generation, at least 25 years”. As a result of the third reform30, the TSG discipline became part of the broader EU regulation on quality schemes for (only) agricultural and food products31. In addition to this change regarding its location, there were also other more farreaching changes. 26 Court of Justice, Judgment of 10 November 1992, Alicante Nougat (or Exportur), Case C-3/91, ECLI:EU:C:1992:420. 27 Reg. (EC) No. 2006/509, cited above, recital 5: “With a view to clarification, the term ‘certificate of specific character’ should be abandoned in favour of ‘traditional speciality guaranteed’ alone, which is easier to understand and, in order to make the goal of this Regulation more explicit for producers and consumers alike, the term ‘specific character’ should be precisely defined and a definition of the term ‘traditional’ should be introduced”. Certification that - understood as a true recognition of the product’s specificity by the European Community - constituted the point of arrival of the procedure for the protection of TSGs under the previous Reg. 2082/1992, cited above, as indicated in the previous footnote. N. Olszak, Les nouveaux règlements européens sur les appellations d’origine et indications géographiques protégées et les spécialités traditionnelles garanties, in Revue de droit rural, 2006, p. 9-11. 28 Regulation (EC) No 2006/509, cited above, Art. 2(1)(a) as well as recital 6, where reference was made to “certain producers would like to derive market value from traditional agricultural products or traditional foodstuffs the inherent characteristics of which distinguish them clearly from similar products or foodstuffs”. 29 Reg. (EC) No 2006/509, cited above, Art. 2(1)(b). 30 F. Capelli, Il Regolamento (UE) n. 1151/2012 sui regimi di qualità dei prodotti agro-alimentari: luci ed ombre, cit., p.52; P. Dévényi, The new proposal on agricultural product quality schemes - Quality legislation on quality questions?, in European Food and Feed Law Review, 2011, p.159-166; D. Dutfield, Geographical indications and agricultural community development: is the European model appropriate for developing countries? Dutfield, Geographical indications and agricultural community development: is the European model appropriate for developing countries?, in (eds. C. Lawson, J. Sanderson), The Intellectual Property and Food Project, London, 2013; G. E. Evans, The simplification of European legislation for the protection of geographical indications: the proposed regulation on agricultural product quality schemes, in EIPR, 2012, p.770-786; M. Gragnani, Le specialità tradizionali garantite (STG) secondo il Regolamento (UE) n. 1151/2012, in Dir. com. sc. int, 2013, n. 1-2, p. 207-217; G. Strambi, La tutela delle specialità tradizionali garantite alla luce del Reg. UE n. 1151/2012, in Studi in onore di Luigi Costato, 2, 2014, p. 365-373; A.Tallon, Les appellations d’origine, Bruxelles, 2016; G. Tassoni, Le specialità tradizionali garantite (STG) nel d. lgs. n. 15 del 2019, in Riv. dir. ind., 2019, n. 4-5, pt. I, p. 308-319; A. Tosato, The protection of traditional foods in the EU: traditional specialities guaranteed, in European law journal, 2013, p. 545-576 31 Reg. (EU) No 2012/1151, cited above, Title III. 334 ERMENEGILDO MARIO APPIANO
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