From the region. For the region.

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hot air balloon with the logo of “From the region. For the region. "

From the region. For the region. ( French De la région. ) is a slogan used by the Swiss retailer Migros , which aims to promote sales of domestic products by actively marketing the regional origin of the products. In 2015 around 8,000 products were offered under this label.

history

The label of origin “From the region. For the region. ”Was developed in 1999 by the Migros Lucerne cooperative . By 2009, the concept was adopted by other Migros cooperatives in Switzerland. The exception is the Migros Ticino cooperative , which has its own label for regional products with “ I Nostrani del Ticino ”.

In 2009 the Federation of Migros Cooperatives announced the slogan “From the region. For the region. ”At the Institute for Intellectual Property (IGE) as a word mark . However, trademark protection was denied by the IPI and, most recently, the Federal Administrative Court . The label is therefore not a brand in the legal sense - it is common property . The logo based on the slogan - supplemented by special graphic features ( word and image mark ) - was registered with the IPI on October 23, 2001 and entered in the trademark register on January 17, 2002.

Guidelines

In order to receive the label, Migros requires that

  • unassembled products come entirely from the region in which they are sold.
  • At least 75% of the composite products come from the region in which they are sold. There is a transition period until 2018 for compliance with the advertised target of 80%. If a raw material (with the exception of the main ingredient) is not available in sufficient quantities or of the required quality in a region, it can also be purchased throughout Switzerland. If this does not work either, imports are permitted with restrictions .
  • at least two thirds of the added value is generated in the region in which the product is sold. Exceptions can be approved internally. In the absence of regional slaughterhouses , this rule does not apply to meat, for example.

Migros understands “region” “generally” to mean the catchment area of ​​one of its regional cooperatives ( Lucerne , Basel , Zurich , Eastern Switzerland , Aare , Geneva , Neuchâtel-Freiburg , Ticino , Valais or Vaud ).

Certification

Migros has compliance with the regulations regularly checked and certified by an external and independent testing agency ( Organizme Intercantonal de Certification for French -speaking Switzerland and Migros Aare, ProCert for German-speaking Switzerland).

criticism

The Foundation for Consumer Protection criticizes the Migros label. It is “shocking” that Migros defines the respective catchment area as a region, which means that regional products are supposed to come from further afield and that raw materials may also come from abroad. The Swiss Foundation for Practical Environmental Protection (Pusch) rates the label with two out of three possible points in the areas of transparency and certification and one out of three points in the area of ​​control.

Migros' claim that the label would result in shorter transport routes is also criticized. Due to the geographical location of the slaughterhouses (for example for chickens) and the Migros egg inspection facilities, eggs and meat would take several hours to be transported.

Trivia

Migros argued about the protectability of the label in court, among other things, that it was protectable because it represented a “string of grammatically incorrect half-clauses”.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Patrick Jordi: For the region - from the region? In: Berner Zeitung . June 6, 2015, accessed July 27, 2015 .
  2. ↑ https://aus-der-region.migros.ch/aus-der-region/de/unsere-geschichte.html
  3. ↑ Excerpt from the trademark register for “From the region. For the region. ” Institute for Intellectual Property, July 27, 2015, accessed on July 27, 2015 .
  4. ↑ a b judgment B8240 / 2010. (PDF) of the Federal Administrative Court , February 27, 2012, accessed on July 27, 2015 .
  5. ↑ The figurative mark for “From the region. For the region. ” In: IPI trademark protection register. June 22, 2011, accessed August 12, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Directive W7.6.1: National umbrella regulations for the Migros label “From the region. For the region. ” (PDF) (No longer available online.) Migros, February 26, 2015, p. 4 , archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on July 27, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.culinarium.ch
  7. ↑ a b The guidelines of the label «From the region. For the region. " In: Migros homepage. Retrieved August 2, 2015 .
  8. ^ A b Angela Barandun: Migros outraged consumer advocates. In: Tages-Anzeiger . April 19, 2010, accessed July 27, 2015 .
  9. ↑ a b From the region. For the region. In: "Labelinfo". Swiss Foundation for Practical Environmental Protection (Pusch), accessed on July 27, 2015 .