17.4.2003 Official Journal of the European Union L 99/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 692/2003 of 8 April 2003 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 on the protection of geographical indications and designa- tions of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu- nity, and in particular Article 37 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (!), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (%), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (°), Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (*), Whereas: (1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 (°) covers neither viticultural products nor spirit drinks; however in order to avoid a gap in the Community's protection provisions wine vinegar should be included in the scope defined in Article 1 thereof. To meet the expectations of some producers, it has also proved necessary to extend the list of agricultural products referred to in Annex II to Regu- lation (EEC) No 2081/92. It is also appropriate to extend the list referred to in Annex I to the said Regulation to include foodstuffs resulting from products in Annex I to the Treaty which have only undergone a slight transfor- mation. (2)  Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 listing the types of foodstuff that may be registered includes natural mineral waters and spring waters. Examination of regis- tration applications for these has revealed several diffi- culties: the use of identical names for different waters and of invented names not covered by the provisions of the said Regulation, and a finding that these products ) O] C 181 E, 30.7.2002, p. 275 (*) Opinion delivered on 5 December 2002 (not yet published in the Official Journal). () O] C 241, 7.10.2002, p. 57. (*) Opinion delivered on 31 July 2002 (not yet published in the Official Journal). () OJ L 208, 24.7.1992, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Commis- sion Regulation (EC) No 2796/2000 (O] L 324, 21.12.2000, p. 26). are not suitable for registration under the said Regula- tion, notably in view of the consequences of Article 13. These difficulties have led to many clashes of interest in the course of work on implementation of the said Regu- lation. (3)  Mineral and spring waters are already the subject of Council Directive 80/777[/EEC of 15 July 1980 on approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the exploitation and marketing of natural mineral waters (°). Even if that Directive does not have exactly the same purpose as Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92, it does nevertheless provide adequate regulation at Community level; names of mineral and spring waters should not therefore be registered. Mineral and spring waters should therefore be deleted from Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92. Some names have already been registered in Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1107/96 of 12 June 1996 on registration of geogra- phical indications and designations of origin under the procedure set out in Article 17 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 ('), and to avoid any injury there should be a transition period until 31 December 2013 after which these names will no longer be on the register specified in Article 6(3) of Regulation (EEC) No 2081/ 92. (4)  Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 contains a non-exhaustive list of the information which any product specification should include. In certain cases, so as to preserve the typical characteristics of products or to ensure their traceability or control, packaging must take place in the defined geographical area. The possibi- lity of including provisions relating to packaging in the product specification, when such circumstances are present and are justifiable, should be explicitly provided for. (5)  To protect the traditional heritage of Member States' producers, appropriate provisions should be made for regulating cases where of geographical names are entirely or partially homonymous. These provisions should cover both names meeting the registration requirements and those not doing so but meeting certain precisely established utilisation requirements. () OJ L 229, 30.8.1980, p. 1. Directive last amended by Directive 96/ 70/EC (OJ L 299, 23.11.1996, p. 26). () OJ L 148, 21.6.1996, p. 1. Regulation last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2703/2000 (OJ L 311, 12.12.2000, p. 25).