Battersi in piazza o rumoreggiare nell'ombra? Una nuova (agrodolce) occasione di riflessione per l'impiego dell'iniziativa contenziosa prevista dall'art. 259 TFUE

Last year Slovenian operators began producing and marketing a new category of vinegar, called “balsamic vinegar”. This initiative has attracted the disfavor of the three Italian Consortia for the protection of balsamic vinegar, which expressed concern that this fact could jeopardize a 1,2 billion euro market, representing an illegitimate evocation by Slovenia of Italian products, protected at the European Union level by the PDO and PGI marks. In this regard, the Italian Authorities have been called to evaluate the possibility of initiating an infringement procedure, pursuant to Article 259 TFEU, against the neighboring State, aimed at establishing the incompatibility of Slovenian behavior with Regulation (EU) 1151/2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs. Premised on a brief examination of the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice on the protection of protected names, this paper intends to provide food for thought on the use of the contentious initiative referred to the Article 259 TFEU, dwelling in particular on the usefulness and appropriateness of resorting to this procedure as an instrument for resolving conflicts between Member States.