
In 2024 year. Switzerland registered the name Emmentaler in the international registry of the Geneva Act, proving its right to reserve the name for traditional cheese, made according to the recipe created before centuries in the Emental valley on the River Emme, in the canton of berne. According to the Statute of the Geneva Act, the EU has one year to decide whether to recognize this claim, or also refuse to protect this name in its territory. The European Commission has refused to Switzerland.
Everyone can produce
The European Commission has recognized the name Emmentaler, which is protected in Switzerland, for only the name of a type of cheese. A this means, that the cheese so called may be made and sold in the EU by any interested entity in each of the countries. A the only restriction in this area is compliance with relevant national production regulations. The EC stated, that the name Emmentaler is historically and culturally related to a larger region of Europe, than only Switzerland. The Commission has already announced this decision in its Journal officially.
Precedent decision
As noted on the portal Agrarheute German Association of the Dairy Industry, the decision by KE in the Ementaler case is precedent. For the first time in history of regulations on the protection geographic issue, the European Commission has classified the milk product as a generic name. It is also worth noting, that in the EU protected there are already three
regional products with the name Emmentaler, made outside Switzerland. This “Allgäu Emmentaler” from Germany, and “Emmental
français est-central” and
“Emmental de Savoie” from France. Legal protection applies only only the
full name, a not the self name “Emmentaler”.
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Swissementaleris losingcompetition.Salesare declining,servesubsidies .