(1)

In accordance with Article 50 of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, the Commission has examined the application for the registration of the name ‘Монгол Тогтвортой ноолуур/Mongol Togtvortoi Nooluur’ as a protected geographical indication (PGI-MN-02885), submitted on 22 December 2022 by the MNFPUGs Sustainable Cashmere Srl that represents and is controlled by Mongolian National Federation of Pasture User Groups of Herders (MNFPUG) Union.

(2)

Following the scrutiny, the Commission sent a rejection letter on 5 April 2023 indicating that the application does not fulfil the requirements of the Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012. In accordance with Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, the scope of the Regulation is defined by reference to Annex I to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Annex I of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012. The product category ‘cashmere’ is not included in either of these annexes and in consequence does not fall within the scope of that Regulation.

(3)

Furthermore, taking into account that the submitted application classified the product as wool (Annex XI of Regulation (EU) No 668/2014: class 2.15), the Commission explained that under Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, cashmere cannot be interpreted as wool, because cashmere and wool represent two distinct products.

(4)

The Commission clarified that Annex I to the Treaty, being a transfer of the relevant classification in the Brussels nomenclature, utilizes the classification in terms of CN codes from Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 (2) to determine which more specific product falls under every category listed in Annex I to the Treaty. This same approach is applied to determine the specific product falling under each class of product mentioned in Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012.

(5)

In accordance with the Explanatory note 1 to Chapter 51 of Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, ‘wool’ and ‘fine or coarse animal hair of Kashmir or similar goats’ are two distinct items, wherein ‘wool’ means the natural fibre grown by sheep or lambs, while ‘fine animal hair’ is a separate category that includes certain species of goat hair (but not of common goats), among which ‘Kashmir goat’ is specifically listed.

(6)

In addition, the distinction is also evident at the level of CN codes in Chapter 51 of Section XI in Part Two of Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, where ‘wool’ is classified as ‘CN code 5101 – Wool, not carded or combed’ and cashmere is included under ‘CN code 5102 – Fine or coarse animal hair, not carded or combed’. Therefore, despite the submitted application describing the product as ‘a kind of wool’, it is crucial to note that ‘wool’ within the meaning of CN code 5101 should not be interpreted to include products under CN code 5102. Consequently, under Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, ‘cashmere’ cannot be considered a subcategory of ‘wool’.

(7)

On the basis of the information provided in the application, the Commission concluded that the application does not fulfil the requirements of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012. The applicant was informed that if no observations were received within two months of receiving the letter (dated 5 April 2023), the Commission intended to launch the procedure for the adoption of a formal Commission decision rejecting the application.

(8)

In the response submitted to the Commission on 20 April 2023, the applicant raised several observations, primarily challenging the use of Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 when interpreting Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012. The applicant asserts that even if Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 is used to determine the scope of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, both wool and cashmere are included in chapter 51 of this Regulation. The Commission notes that, as only wool is included in Annex I of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, and not cashmere, and this term is not defined in Annex I of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, it is necessary to look for its meaning in other EU legislation. The Commission uses the customs classification as the basis for determining the scope of a product, unless there is other specialised legislation. In the present case, there is none.

(9)

The applicant also states in its observations that other relevant EU regulations and directives refer to ‘cashmere wool’ or associate cashmere to wool. The applicant cites namely Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) and Directive 2008/121/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (4).

(10)

The Commission notes that neither of these legislative acts defines cashmere as wool. Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 contains the list of textile fibre names and, according to Table 1 in this Annex, apart from fibre from sheep’s or lamb’s fleeces, the term ‘wool’ may also be used for ‘a mixture of fibres from sheep’s or lamb’s fleeces and the hairs of animals listed in number 2’. Cashmere is listed in number 2. Thereby, in accordance with Article 5(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, a textile containing cashmere fibres may only be labelled ‘wool’ if it is a mixture of wool and cashmere fibres. This means that a textile composed exclusively of cashmere fibres may not be called ‘wool’ for the purposes of Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 and will have to be labelled as ‘cashmere’ or ‘cashmere wool’ or ‘cashmere hair’ in accordance with the rules laid down in number 2 of Table 1. As these names are included under a different number in the table, they are not subcategories of ‘wool’ but distinct names. As for Directive 2008/121/EC, it is no longer in force as it was repealed by the aforementioned Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011.

(11)

Additionally, the applicant presented several definitions of cashmere and wool from various sources, namely, from the International wool textile organisation (IWTO) ‘Wool Notes’ publication; DIN 60001-1 standard, German Institute for standardisation; German textile labelling act; Title 15 US Code §68 B and Wikipedia. The Commission notes that for the application of a Union Regulation the term ‘wool’ can only be determined by using Union legislation and, therefore, the various documents indicated by the applicant are not applicable in this context. Furthermore, the indicated sources mainly refer to ‘cashmere wool’ in line with the provisions laid down in Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011.

(12)

Furthermore, the applicant referred to the information notice – the public consultation on geographical indications of the People’s Republic of China (5), published by the European Commission, which includes the name ‘Alxa Cashmere’, leading the applicant to believe that cashmere can be protected under Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012. In this case, the protection sought for ‘Alxa Cashmere’ is for fresh meat of cashmere goat and not for the fine hair of these goats.

(13)

In the light of the above the Commission considers that the application for registration ‘Монгол Тогтвортой ноолуур/Mongol Togtvortoi Nooluur’ as a PGI does not fulfil the requirements of the Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 since it concerns a product whose category does not fall within the scope of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012.

(14)

The application for protection of the name ‘Монгол Тогтвортой ноолуур/Mongol Togtvortoi Nooluur’ as a protected geographical indication should therefore be rejected.

(15)

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Agricultural Product Quality Policy Committee,

MNFPUGs Sustainable Cashmere Srl

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22100 Como CO

Italy