Champagne paragraph
Articles 274 and 275 of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919, which forbade German products to use foreign denominations of origin , were named for the champagne paragraph. This particularly concerned champagne and cognac from German production, which from the French point of view were misleadingly named after French regions. Since then, these products have been referred to as sparkling wine and brandy .
The articles are located in Part X, Section I of the contract and are headed as “Chapter 3. Unfair Competition ”. Article 274 states that Germany undertakes to “take all necessary legal or administrative measures to protect the raw materials or products of any of the Allied or Associated States against any form of unfair competition in commercial transactions.” According to Article 275, “undertakes Germany to comply with the laws [...] which are in force in an allied or associated country [...] and which establish or regulate the right to a local designation of origin for wines or spirits ". This forced Germany to comply with the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of 1883.
