Judgment of the General Court of 21 February 2024 – Papouis Dairies and Others v Commission

(Case T-361/21)  (1)

(Agriculture - Protected designation of origin - Opposition proceedings - Registration of the name ‘Χαλλούμι’ (Halloumi)/‘Hellim’ (PDO) - Article 52(3)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 - Obligation to state reasons - Length of the administrative procedure - Scope of the review carried out by the Commission of the application for registration - Principle of sound administration)

(C/2024/2607)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicants: Papouis Dairies Ltd (Nicosia, Cyprus) and the five other applicants listed in the Annex to the judgment (represented by: N. Korogiannakis, lawyer)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: M. Konstantinidis, B. Hofstötter and B. Rechena, acting as Agents)

Intervener in support of the defendant: Republic of Cyprus (represented by: E. Zachariadou, I. Neophytou, E. Symeonidou and M. Marinou, acting as Agents, and by T. Georgopoulos, lawyer)

Re:

By their action under Article 263 TFEU, the applicants seek annulment of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/591 of 12 April 2021 entering a name in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications (‘Χαλλούμι’ (Halloumi)/‘Hellim’ (PDO)) (OJ 2021 L 125, p. 42).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

(1)   OJ C 357, 6.9.2021.