This report is the result of a study on protection and controls of agricultural geographical indications, for which the EU Commission, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) requested the collaboration of the EUIPO's European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights. The main objective of the study is to provide better knowledge of the landscape of the control and protection systems for geographical indications (GIs) in the 28 EU Member States, through the mapping of all the competent authorities and the procedures in place, including enforcement measures against infringements. The report provides a general overview and description of each national control system for foodstuffs and agricultural products, wines, spirit drinks and aromatised wine drinks. In addition, a guide is attached with a comprehensive inventory of all national competent authorities (CAs) and control bodies (CBs) together with the relevant contact data, as well as some useful information for GI users to help them in seeking better protection against infringements. The study has been conducted on the basis of desk and field research carried out in order to collect a consistent set of information. This research activity started with the preparation and submission to the 28 EU Member States of a common 'data collection scheme', which aimed to gather structured information on the functioning of the control and protection systems for GIs within the European Union. Following this extensive research activity, all of the data returned was then gathered, assessed and organised in this report. Hence, not only the overall coverage achieved, but also the structure and the level of detail of the information given strongly relies on the extent of each Member State's contribution. In detail, out of 28 Member States, 23 provided information for this survey. Therefore, the remaining 5 Member States are not included in the report. Despite a harmonised reporting structure based on a single research scheme applied to all of the Member States, the information provided is diverse in terms of level of detail and extent, as well as sometimes uneven in covering the different areas of interest. This reflects the high heterogeneity in the approach the Member States have adopted to implementing controls - although still under the umbrella of the common EU legal framework. Of course, the diverse economic value of agri-food GIs in each national economy (both in terms of domestic production and general consumption of high quality products) also plays a role in this. Some clear examples are: control procedures are not always specifically designed for verification of GIs (more often they are merged within the general system of national controls on safety of food and feed), and resources are not always accordingly assigned to them; the enforcement apparatus for GIs only includes national measures to be enacted ex officio in some cases; the administrative sanction systems against unlawful users are diversely detailed in terms of types of infringement and in providing for precautionary measures and remedies; different types of criminal offence only specifically address the infringement of rules on geographical indications of origin of food products in some cases. Although it is not the aim of this work to assess the efficiency and the effectiveness of the various national systems in place, nevertheless, the picture resulting from the survey and the different national approaches allow for some general considerations that will be given in more detail below under the paragraph 'General overview'. The contents of this work are presented as follows: a general background of the study carried out; information about the study's methodology; a general overview of some of the main outcomes; the single national systems in place in the Member States described in dedicated chapters. As previously mentioned, a Guide is attached as an annex to the study, with the threefold objective of providing practical information for the benefit of economic operators and GI users and consumers. Finally, a compilation of the good practices identified in the course of the survey, which was elaborated in collaboration with DG Agriculture and Rural Development and its network of experts on GIs, is attached as an appendix, as a tool to support public authorities in the Member States in fine-tuning their procedures and to inspire improvement in their performance
