122. The representative of Australia said that, as far as his delegation was concerned, it was clear that the purpose of the system was to "facilitate" the protection of GIs for wines and spirits. His delegation could not agree that the EC system, which presumed protection unless a successful challenge was made, did not involve substantive new obligations. There were a number of aspects where the EC proposal went beyond TRIPS: under the TRIPS Agreement, there was no time limit on the exercise of exceptions contained in Article 24; Members were not required to have a domestic examination structure in place; and they were not exposed to a potentially costly dispute resolution mechanism for the determination of individual GIs.
