Indeed, in the Pomazánkové máslo judgement, the Court of Justice ruled against allowing the name of a TSG to be worded in such a way as to circumvent the Union’s rules on the designation of foodstuffs48. In such a case, the traditional nature of a foodstuff did not justify the Czech Republic to allow the marketing of a spreadable cream described as “máslo” (butter), even though the product did not have the characteristics laid down by EU legislation to fall within that product category, so that it should instead have been labelled “mléčná pomazánka X%” (dairy spread X%). Having thus reconstructed the historical evolution of the notion of TSG, in order to better understand the current one, let us now proceed to examine its remaining discipline, making only more reference to what is in force today. III. THE PRODUCT SPECIFICATION Like in the case of PDO and PGI, the product specification also plays a fundamental role for TSGs, as it allows the definition of the characteristics that – in the interest of consumers49 – the respective quality product must possess in order to be marketed under the protected name.50 When referring to TSGs, the product specification must contain at least: the name and description of the product (including its main physical, chemical, microbiological or organoleptic characteristics); the recipe (also indicating, where appropriate, the nature and characteristics of the raw materials or ingredients used and, if relevant, the commercial and scientific name of the plant or animal species concerned in the production); the basic elements attesting its traditional character. Instead, it is optional to include labelling requirements.51 The competence to draw up the product specification lies with the party entitled to apply for protection for the relevant TSG52, on which we will discuss below. The same applies to any subsequent amendments. On the other hand, it is outside the scope of TSGs product specifications to indicate any sustainability practices, as this is only the case for PDOs and PGIs ones. 53 48 Court of Justice, judgment of 18 October 2012, Pomazánkové máslo (meaning: spreadable butter), Case C-37/11, ECLI:EU:C:2012:640. 49 E. M. Appiano, La posizione del consumatore nella nuova OCM Vino, in Contratto e Impresa / Europa, II, 2009, p. 993. 50 Reg. (EU) No 2024/1143, cited above, art.10(2) for PDO and PGI; Art.56(2) for TSG. 51 Reg. (EU) No 2024/1143, cited above, art. 54. 52 Reg. (EU) No 2024/1143, cited above, art. 55(3)(a). 53 Reg. (EU) No 2024/1143, cited above, art. 7, part of Title II, applicable only to PDOs and PGIs. 337 FOODSTUFF TRADITION PROTECTION
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