Introduction

An appellation of origin is the name of a country, region, place or geographical area that is used for designating a product that originates from a specific place and whose quality or properties are exclusively or essentially due to its geographical environment. A name that refers to a particular geographical area for the purposes of certain products will also be considered an appellation of origin.

Law 25,163/1999 and Law 25,380/2000 govern this matter in Argentina for wines and wine-based spirits as well as agricultural and food products, respectively.

Law 25,380/2000 sets out two categories (geographical indications and appellations of origin) as follows:

Section 1. — The Geographical Indications and Appellations of Origin used for commercializing agricultural or food products either in their natural state, or conditioned or processed, shall be governed by the present law. The wines and wine-based spirits are excluded from this law and are regulated by a special regime.

SECTION 2. For the purposes of this law, the definitions shall be as follows:

a) Geographical Indication: The geographical name of a country, region, province, department, town, or area within its territory, which is known as place of extraction, production, or manufacturing of an agricultural or food product.

b) Appellation of Origin: The name of a region, province, department, district, town, or area within the national territory that is duly registered and is used for designating a product originating therein, and whose properties or characteristics are exclusively or essentially due to the geographical environment, which comprises natural and human factors.

New appellation of origin

On 17 October 2018, the secretary of food and bioeconomy at the Ministry of Production and Labour issued Resolution 14/2018, which acknowledged a new appellation of origin (ie, DULCE DE MEMBRILLO RUBIO DE SAN JUAN (San Juan Sweet Quince Paste)) and additionally its production protocol.

The new appellation of origin is for a sweet quince paste produced in the Argentine province of San Juan that is part of the local culinary tradition and whose characteristics derive from the manufacturing process and the quality of the quinces produced in San Juan.

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