Balsamic vinegar PDO: a decision for the protection

The balsamic vinegar PDO is the protagonist of a recent order from the specialized section of the Court of Bologna. The Consortium of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena and the Balsamic Vinegar Conservation Consortium of Modena emphasize, in a note, the positive result achieved.

The Consortia, in the course of the proceeds against products that imitate the protected denominations, recall that the Tribunale di Bologna has held that there are no conditions to suspend the financial penalty and the ban imposed by the competent authority on an operator following a allegations of illicitization for a labeling considered evocative of the original Balsamic Vinegar PDO of Modena.

The Traditional Balsamic Vinegar Conservation Consortium of Modena PDO and the Balsamic Vinegar Conservation Consortium of Modena IGP express satisfaction with this provision which, although on the basis of a first examination, in line with the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, seems to confirm the wide protection of the two names protected against the use of terms that give rise to evocation when combined with comparable products.

The President of the Traditional Balsamic Vinegar Consortium of Modena Enrico Corsini thinks that this is only a first step; now the merit proceeding will have to do its course until the first instance judgment is likely to arrive only at the end of next year. Moreover, the Director of the Balsamic Vinegar Consortium of Modena Federico Desimoni adds that this first orientation of the Bolognese judge is a very good confirmation of what was already passed by the German courts last year, and now they are confident that Italian jurisprudence can also consolidate that position. If so, the beneficiaries will be not only the producers of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena and Balsamic Vinegar of Modena original, but all the Italian PDO and PGI sectors which are worth more than 12 billion euros.