Appellation d'origine controlee (AOC) represents the name of a region or locality or a specific place or, in exceptional cases, of a country which serves to designate a product originating in that region, locality, place or country and whose quality or characteristics are essentially or exclusively due to the geographical environment, including natural and human factors, and whose production, processing and preparation take place in that limited geographical area.
Geographical indication (GI) is the name of a region or locality or a specific place or, in exceptional cases, of a country which serves to designate a product originating in that region, locality, place or country and which possesses a specific quality, reputation or other characteristics attributable to that geographical origin and whose production and/or processing and/or preparation take place in that limited geographical area.
These names have emerged from the need to protect the agricultural products and foodstuffs obtained by various manufacturers whose geographical origin is identifiable; a peculiar notion was recognised, namely the 'registered origin name' that will support the producers stimulate them to pursue the obtaining of grater wines thanks to it but also the consumers of such products who will be encouraged to consume the wines due to their special qualitative characteristics, the consumers being directed mainly to the origin attracting the confidence for such a consumption.
At the European level, it has established a protection system that protects every Member State of the European Union, encouraging the more and more increased use of the notions of 'geographical indication' and 'origin names', an approach to the conditions of optimal recording for fair competition between producers, better guarantees to consumers that these names are clearly a guarantee of quality, as it allows preserving the product specificity.
This concerns in particular the increasing of competitiveness of wine producers, strengthening of the reputation of quality wine, recovering of old markets, and winning new markets to balance supply and demand, creating a wine regime that preserves the best traditions of production, reinforcing the social structure in many rural areas.
The origin names and geographical indications for wines available for each Member State of the European Union are recognized and recorded in a database, benefiting from protection in its territory against commercial use of names registered if the products thus sold are comparable to those registered under these names or if they exploit the reputation of the registered ones, misuse, misleading instructions on the package regarding the provenance, origin, nature of the product, presenting the product in a manner likely to create an erroneous impression regarding the true origin of the product.
The international and European Union Law mark a period of intense concerns to ensure a framework as fair, effective and efficient as possible for the implementation of specific policies of different institutions such as the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) influencing more increasinglythrough its work a remarkable evolution of methods of analysis, oenological practices, legislation on wine products and consequently the wines themselves.
Source: Oficiul National al Viei si Produselor Vitivinicole (National Office for Vine and Wine Products)
