“Alföldi kamillavirágzat” Wild Camomile Flower granted EU Protection

he European Commission has registered the name “Alföldi kamillavirágzat”, and given it “protected designation of origin” (PDO) status. The Commission registry currently includes more than 1000 officially protected denominations.

One of the advantages of being registered is that it grants protection against fraudulent use of the product name, since other EU countries are no longer able to use the same name. The other advantage involves the use of EU symbols and logos, making these Hungarian tea products easily recognisable and differentiated, similarly to Chinese-registered Longjing cha, or Darjeeling Tea from India.

The presence of the symbol makes it immediately obvious to all consumers within the European Union that the unique characteristics of the product are rooted in its geographical origins, giving the consumer grater confidence in the product.

Starting from the day of registration (February 24, 2012), the labels of all products distributed using the name “Alföldi kamillavirágzat” must include the symbols denoting EU origin and the protected designation of origin status, in accordance with the product description.

The EU registry now includes ten Hungarian geographical product denominations. In addition to the Alföld wild camomile flowers, Szegedi (téli)szalámi (“Szeged winter salami”), Budapesti téliszalámi (“Budapest winter salami”), Csabai kolbász/Csabai vastagkolbász (“Csaba sausage and Csaba thick sausage”) and Gyulai kolbász/Gyulai pároskolbász (“Gyula sausage and Gyula paired sausage”), as well as Hajdúsági torma (“Hajdúság horseradish”), Makói (vörös) hagyma (“Makó [red] onions”), Gönci kajszibarack (“Gönc apricots”), Szegedi paprika (“Szeged paprika powder”) and Magyar szürkemarha hús (“Hungarian grey cattle beef”) are also included in the list of protected denominations.

For a product to be granted protected status by the Community, the manufacturers must prepare a detailed product description. If the documents provided confirm that the product is entitled to protection, the Ministry of Rural Development brings an official resolution on the recommendation of the Hungarian Council of Origin Protection and in concordance with the Intellectual Property Office, and forwards the application for registration to the European Commission.

(Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)