Bulgaria Drafts Amendments to GI Legislation

The Bulgarian Patent Office (BPO) has published a draft law that aims to align Bulgarian national legislation with Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 for public consultation. According to this Regulation, EU member states are not allowed to grant protection to geographical indications (GIs) for agricultural products and foodstuffs at the national level, only at the EU level.

Following Bulgaria’s accession to the EU in 2007, the BPO was supposed to stop registering GIs for agricultural products and foodstuffs, but did not. The draft law is intended to remedy this. According to the draft, all existing national registrations will be revoked, all application proceedings for new registrations will be terminated, and GI holders will have to apply for registration before the European Commission. The BPO will continue registering non-agricultural GIs.

If the new law is introduced, the BPO will inform WIPO about all national registrations that will be revoked and that have been used as a basis to obtain protection provided for in WIPO’s treaties.

Prepared by: Ivan Rainovski and Dimitar Batakliev

For more information, please contact bulgaria@petosevic.com.

Source: Bulgarian Public Consultation Portal