Ms Angela Robinson:

I thank the Senator. The reference in the regulations to which he referred may be Article 33, which provides for the designation of recognised producer groups. It provides for certain powers to be assigned to those designated producer groups, which can be an association or a body representative of industry, etc. There was a suggestion that some of the functions that might normally have been undertaken by the competent authority from time to time and individual producer groups might be vested in the recognised producer group. As Mr. Savage has said, the regulation is still at the point of discussion at the Council working group. Eight or nine working group meetings have happened so far. Those discussions are ongoing and it will be some time before they are finalised. Many of the member states, including Ireland, have raised points of clarification in respect of Articles 32 and 33 and what they mean by the designation of certain powers to certain groups, and how that would be implemented and managed. The Commission has provided revised text in respect of some of those articles. I should say that the Council Presidency has provided revised text which we are examining and seeking further clarification on.

A specific role was specified in the original article. In the case of Irish whiskey, for example, it was the member state, the competent authority, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, that applied for the geographical indication because there was no individual producer group. Normally, it would be producer groups that would apply for geographical indications but in the absence of that, the Department applied for the geographical indication. The article specifically stated that where the competent authority is the equivalent of the producer group, it would be the designated producer group. We are seeking clarification as to exactly what that means. The competent authority will retain responsibility for the engagement with the Commission, the industry and the producers in respect of the geographical indications because the competent authority is the applicant body. The background to this review is that it intends to give more power to producers and what the Commission is intending to do is to allow producers to, in particular, enhance their powers of protection and preventing fraudulent products being put on the market. An example would be a company fraudulently using the name of Irish whiskey. The articles are trying to see how those powers could be used by the producers but the rules will not change the fact that the competent authority will ultimately be responsible for the official controls in that regard. Does that answer the Senator's question?