Agreement of April 15, 1994, ratified in Italy by Law No. 747 of 1994, obliges the protection of geographical indications without differentiating between “registered” and “non-registered” (Articles 22-24). Consequently, considering that this Agreement was signed not only by individual EU Member States but also by the EU itself directly, it follows that: “if one interprets Community law as granting only community protection to registered geographical names and indications and simultaneously prohibits Member States from providing national protection to unregistered qualified geographical names and indications, both the Union and the Member States would be exposed to international legal liability for breach of the obligations undertaken by virtue of the TRIPS Agreement.” 16. As a corollary to the foregoing, it should also be added that the proliferation of PDO, PGI, and TSG designations responds additionally to a cultural need, namely the requirement to identify and preserve expressions of a territory (PDO and PGI) or of a tradition (TSG): “expressions capable of giving voice to a geographical environment understood as a combination of natural and human elements or to a history dating back to the origins of production methods which, in the present, can also be delocalized, i.e., reproduced in locations different from those where the tradition was established.” 17. If that is the case, however, it is evident that the interest to be satisfied also changes. Interest, which is therefore represented by the necessity to identify and recognize authenticity even in products originating from regions distant from those where the traditional production practices have developed. Consequently, among the tools provided by the legislator, particular importance is attached to both the publication in the Official Gazette of the national list of traditional agri-food products (pursuant to Law No. 238 of 2016) and the legal protection of enogastronomic tourism, understood as a component of “cultural tourism.” This gives rise to the necessity of investigating whether situations of conflict may arise between the regulations concerning unfair commercial practices and those governing the geographical origin of products, and consequently, whether the doctrinal positions regarding PDO and PGI may also be applicable to TSG. 16 The statement is by V. Di Cataldo, “Denominations and Geographical Indications between Community Registration and National Protection,” in Made in, IGP, DOP, in AIDA, 2016, Vol. I, pp. 32, 33, 37. 17 Conf. R. Palma, Agro-ecology and Geographical Indications between Magic and Rationality in the Law of the EU and the WTO: Reinventing Designations of Origin to Preserve Rural Economy, Cultural Heritage, and the Environment, in this Review, 2017, Issue 6, I, pp. 265. 388 FRANCESCO TORCHIA
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