58 WINE LAW and Industrial Strategy” as a designation of origin, subject to the supervision of the General Inspectorate created. As mentioned, this initiative was not implemented. Nevertheless, much later, with the Constitution already in force, some Autonomous Regions assumed the exclusive power over designations of origin [i.e. Galicia in its article 30(1)(4) of its Statute of Autonomy]. With this legal backing, Galicia passed Law 9/1985, of 30 June, of protection of ornamental stones36, in which stated that “products from granite, slate or other ornamental stones displaying distinctive features or characteristics due to the environment and/or their workmanship shall be protected under a designation of origin” (art. 1). It should be noted that the distinctive manner of treatment of the raw material (a purely human intervention, which turns it into an industrial product) will be enough to guarantee protection under the system. This Law, which was claimed to take a “significant step”37 in the path towards the institution of designations of origin, was challenged by the State in an appeal to the Constitutional Court. The claimant argued it would encroach on the State’s exclusive power over industrial property regulation, obscuring the DOs’ natural scope, confined, under the current legislation, to agricultural products and foodstuffs. The Constitutional Court, in its Judgement 211/1990, found in relation to the scope of designations that: “the designation of origin is a quality that reflects the existing connection between a place and a product, the quality characteristics of which are associated with the environment in which they are produced. Even though in a high number of cases the impact of the environment is most relevant in foodstuffs, notably wine, this legal interest cannot be defined solely by the substance it is applied to”. This theoretical exception has had no real implications as the Law was not enforced. However, it is evident that a system like this only guarantees the geographical origin of the stones. Although this seems to be good enough, it simply brings us to the figure of the indication of origin status, not even fitting for geographical indications, let alone designations of origin. Here lies the very core element of our discussion: there is a bewildering confusion between designations of origin and indications of origin38, the case of the stones being a strikingly obvious one. On top of that, various products 36 Official Journal of Galicia of 17 August 2985, Official State Gazette no. 247, of 5 October 1985. 37 AREÁN LALÍN, M. (1985). “Extensión de las denominaciones de origen a las piedras ornamentales”, Actas de Derecho Industrial y Derecho de Autor, 11, p. 575. 38 López Benítez regrets that the Constitutional Court, in its Judgement 211/1990, alluded to attempts by Spain and other countries at protecting as designations of origin non-agri-food “linked to a geographical place” such as “ceramics, fabric, tapestries, marble, embroidery, etc”. LÓPEZ BENÍTEZ, M. (1996). Las denominaciones de origen, Cedecs, Barcelona, p. 73.
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