This JoWooD press release announces that Gothic 3 is gold in Europe, presumably for real this time after a gold announcement a couple of weeks ago (story) that was subsequently retracted (story). The European release date for Piranha Bytes' RPG sequel remains October 13, as word is:

Liezen, Österreich, 26th of September 2006; Thousands of fans have been shocked after the message: “Gothic 3 is not gold anymore”. Rumours about delays, current situation of development and quality problems circulated trough the community and fans became much more nervous each day. JoWooD Productions, Deep Silver and Piranha Bytes attach great importance to on a very good quality which suits the expectations of the fans. Due to this reason the version has been optimized till the last second. Now it’s done: Gothic 3 is ready and in production. The game will be released on the 13th of October.