In this case, however, the Italian State omitted to impose a similar precept59 with reference to Traditional Mozzarella TSG: if it had done so, there would have been a risk of reverse discrimination against its national producers, if the other States had not adopted a similar approach on their territory. IV. PROTECTION: OBJECT Unlike PDOs and PGIs, where protection concerns the geographical name of the place from which these products originate60, TSGs protection concerns the name of the product itself61, provided that in the latter case the conditions highlighted above are met, i.e. a tradition of at least thirty years defines the product’s requirements and connotes the name that defines it. A name can not be registered as a TSG, “if it refers only to claims of a general nature used for a set of products, or to claims provided for in particular Union legislation”62. In establishing such a prohibition, the legislator has therefore not resorted to the notion of a common name. On this point, the regulations on PDOs and PGIs differ, as they do not allow a geographical name to be registered when it has become a “generic term”63, i.e. the name generically used – and therefore in common use – to indicate a certain type of product, the toponym having lost its distinctive capacity to identify something specific. This explains why the application for protection for Mozzarella TSG was accepted64 (on the basis of the first version of the TSG regulations, which contained a rule substantially identical to the current one65), despite the fact that the word “mozzarella” was the common name for a type of soft cheese with spun paste, to be 59 D. M. of 9 September 2014, no. 76262, Modalità per l’attuazione delle disposizioni di cui all’articolo 4 del decreto-legge 24 giugno 2014, n. 91, recante misure per la sicurezza alimentare e la produzione della Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP, GURI no. 219, 20 September 2014, pag. 8. 60 Reg. (EU) No 2024/1143, cited above, art. 46. 61 Reg. (EU) No 2024/1143, cited above, art. 53(1). 62 Reg. (EU) No 2024/1143, cited above, art. 53(4), which corresponds exactly to the content of Art. 18(4) of the former Reg. (EU) No 2012/1151, cited above, art. 3(1)(5). 63 Reg. (EU) No 2024/1143, cited above, art. 28. The definition of “generic term” is brought by Art. 2(1)(h) of Reg. (EU) No 2024/1143, cited above: “the name of a product which, although relating to the place, region or country where a product was originally produced or placed on the market, has become the common name of a product in the Union”. 64 Commission Reg. No 1998/2527 of 25 November 1998 supplementing the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 2301/97 on the entry of certain names in the Register of certificates of specific character provided for in Council Regulation (EEC) No 1992/2082 on certificates of specific character for agricultural products and foodstuffs, in OJEU No L 317 of 26 November 1998 p. 14 - 18, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/1998/2527/oj. 65 Reg. (EEC) No 2082/1992, cited above, Art. 5(2). 339 FOODSTUFF TRADITION PROTECTION
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