Bibliography

The EU free trade agreements have become the single most influential force shaping the Geographical Indication landscape today. While their critics may see GIs as an unwelcome ‘Trojan horse’ to be let in in exchange for access to the European market, this legal figure has the potential of becoming greatly beneficial for developing countries.
It looks in particular at Costa Rica before and after the signature of the EU–Central American Association Agreement of 2012. We examine the practicalities of its implementation on the ground and its impact on the local industry of cheese ‘generics’. It also explores its potential effect on the coffee industry and assess how a developing country of modest size like Costa Rica can embrace this foreign legal transplant and use it to its advantage.

Agreement between the European Union and the Government of the People’s Republic of China on cooperation on, and protection of, geographical indications (signed on 14 September 2020). The recently signed EU-China Agreement for the protection of Geographical Indications (GIs) will provide a framework and increase the knowledge of the respective systems of GIs protection. However, for EU GIs owners, it will not replace registration and enforcement under Chinese law.

This article focuses on the development and expanded importance placed by the European Union and its trading partners on Geographical Indications. As a result of this importance, and the related inclusion as a competent of international trade, this article seeks to assess how the European Union has included ever-higher levels of protection to Geographical Indications within its trade agenda. The article further addresses how the European Union wields the competence to act in this field but also how this is balanced against the related human rights concerns which may be at risk as a result of this increased level of protection. This article offers some guidance for future development in the area, as the European Union is currently engaged in a number of similar agreements at the global stage, in which is it ever more becoming the dominant player.

This article discusses the current position in Australia regarding the protection of Geographical Indications (GIs) at both the national and international level. It explains the current difference in the protection offered at the national level to Australian regional names used on wine labels vis-à-vis on food labels. It explains that, at the national level, Australia has had a dedicated wine GI framework since 1994 that regulates the usage of regional names on wines labels, in the form of GIs. However, up until now, Australia has relied on consumer protection, trade mark and passing off laws to protect the value that exists in regional names that are used on food labels to make an origin claim. Furthermore, this article explains that, at an international level, Australia complies with its international obligations to provide a protection mechanism for GIs by protecting international GIs for wines or grape products pursuant to its dedicated wine GI framework, while protecting international GIs for all other products as certification trade marks (CTMs).
This article discusses that there is a strong case for the implementation of a dedicated food GI framework in Australia at the national level and this is particularly given the current negotiations between Australia and the EU in relation to the Australia–European Union Free Trade Agreement (A-EUFTA).

This article explores the possibility that geographical indications (GIs) may enhance value addition for avocados grown in Kenya. It concludes that factors that are attendant to the registration of GIs in Kenya provide a basis upon which the commercial value of avocados grown in Kenya can be enhanced.

Recently the European Commission has launched two road maps affecting geographical indications (GIs) regulations from two different perspectives: one regarding a revision of agricultural products, wine and spirits regulations and another regarding intellectual property. In this second plan, special attention will be paid to upgrading the system for IP protection, by exploring ways to strengthen the protection system for GIs of agricultural products and considering the introduction of an EU protection system for non-agricultural GIs. This article aims to explore the principal challenges of reforming the GI legal regime, and the opportunity to establish core common principles for those rights by considering the unitary legal nature of GIs as an intellectual property right while analysing and preserving differences within each sector. The article shows the value of analysing GIs as an intellectual property right in a coordinated way, as an essential element of the EU Action Plan addressed to upgrade the EU IP system to facilitate the digital and green transition. The study analyses EU GIs case law, in comparison with other jurisdictions such as Spain.

Using a new detailed dataset on country-product information on European Union (EU) Geographical Indications (GIs), we study the impact of this food quality policy on trade margins over the 1996–2014 period. We consider the effect of GIs on both intra- and extra-EU trade margins (extensive and intensive), as well as on export (and import) unit values. Our main results show that GIs affect trade flows differently depending on whether GIs are produced by the exporter or importer country. The presence of GIs in the exporter country systematically exerts a positive trade effect on both the extensive and intensive trade margin. When registered only in the importer country, GIs seem to act weakly as a trade-reducing measure, at least at the intensive trade margin. In addition, GIs positively affect export prices, consistent with the idea that GI products are perceived by consumers as higher quality goods. Importantly, extra-EU trade margins react similarly to those on intra-EU trade. These results have clear and interesting implications concerning the EU strategy of promoting the protection of GIs worldwide.

One of the main functions of geographical indications (GIs) is to provide information and quality to consumers. This, in turn, can generate benefits for producers and stimulate rural development processes, as advocated by European Union (EU) legislation. The objective of the present study is to understand if the theorized effects of GIs on local economic development are supported by empirical evidence. Using a systematic approach, we reviewed the literature on the topic and structured the results of the review adopting a supply chain framework. This allows us to better understand how the effects of GIs are distributed among the chain actors and finally arrive at the local territories where GI products originate. Evidence shows that GIs are actually able to generate value-added, especially at the consumer and retailer levels, while the effects on the economic performance of producers are more heterogeneous and dependent on specific local conditions. The review also highlighted some drawbacks in the literature that make it difficult to draw robust conclusions about the actual impact of GI policy at the European level. Therefore, despite the GI tool actually showing good potential for improving local economic conditions, more structured and focused research is needed.

This book explores the potential benefits and disadvantages of geographical indication (GIs) registration schemes, analyzing the utility of GI registrations for the development and promotion of regional economies, both in national and international markets. The book draws on the van Caenegem, Cleary & Drahos Australian Provenance Report, along with the valuable empirical data collected in connection with it.  The book situates the rural development question in an international context, presenting several case studies from Italy, France and Morocco, New Zealand and Australia. The book contains various chapters focused on comparing regulatory structures in various relevant jurisdictions and drawing on other countries’ experiences. It contains significant contributions from industry actors with extensive experience in regional branding initiatives and GI-related policy issues. Progressive in structure, the book starts from the ‘big picture’ level before moving down to the local and concrete scale. Geographical indications of Australian products are vital both in domestic and overseas markets by accurately representing the origin and quality of niche agricultural products. Thus, with a particular focus on Australia, the book promotes the assessment of geographical indications as potential regional assets that will help producers develop local quality indicators that will serve as public goods for successive generations of producers.

La question de l’évaluation ex ante de l’impact des IG, qui se pose dans de nombreux projets de développement, est complexe. La nécessaire capacité de mobilisation et d’action collective des acteurs économiques peut être évaluée, mais la concurrence des filières conventionnelles et le cumul d’objectifs au sein des IG peuvent la réduire. Des processus d’innovation sont conjointement nécessaires et assurés par une tension permanente entre gouvernance sectorielle et gouvernance territoriale, induisant une multiplicité de trajectoires d’évolution. Many development projects try to assess ex ante the Geographical Indications’ impact which is a complex challenge. The economic actors’ involvement and collective action capacity is determining and may be estimated, but the competition with conventional supply chains and stakes’ multiplication within GI projects can reduce it. Innovation processes are jointly needed and allowed by a permanent tension between sectorial and territorial governances, leading to a multiplicity of evolution trajectories.

This study was an update and expansion of a previous study: “Value of agricultural production under protected designations of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indications (PGI)” (Tender N° AGRI–2008–EVAL–02) performed in 2009 for the DG AGRI of the European Commission. It covered GIs registered under Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 (the period covered 2005-2008). The present study aimed to 1) update the database for the period 2009-2010; 2) expand and complete the database with data on the volume, value and trade of production for each wine, aromatised wine and spirit registered under GI for the period 2005-2010; 3) analyse the value premium received by products bearing a registered name, to assess the evolution of value, volume and trade of geographical indications during the period 2005-2010; and, finally, to compare the situation with standard products and between different GI products and sectors at EU and Member State levels.

The geographical indications scheme provides a potential economic opportunity for farmers and producers of food and can have a positive impact on the rural economy. To achieve this objective and provide the intended protection, an appropriate EU framework needs to be in place. The Court examined whether the scheme’s control system is conceptually robust, whether the procedures and measures used render it attractive to potential participants and whether the measures available and the Commission’s actions have contributed to increasing consumer awareness. Checks relating to the geographical indications scheme aim to verify compliance of a PDO or PGI product with a product specification and to detect instances of disallowed use of a protected name.

The protection of geographical indications for agricultural products and foodstuffs is one of the major pillars of the Common European Agricultural Policy and has become an important part of the transition from supporting commodity markets to enabling producers to market goods that satisfy consumer tastes. According to estimates, a total annual sales volume of approximately €14 bn is generated with protected geographical indications (PGI) and protected designations of origin (PDO). Nevertheless, the increase in the utilization of the protection systems made obvious a number of problems in the practical application of the law. The Commission recognized these criticisms and announced a discussion on the regulation that was to commence officially in the autumn of 2008 with a Green Book about the PDO/PGI protection regime. In this context, the most recent problems are discussed and proposals are made that should be taken into account in order to accomplish the main goals of the regulation. Therefore this article is addressed to agricultural policymakers, consumer associations, as well as food producers and producer associations in Europe in order to provide a starting point for the Green Book debate.

The aim of this paper is to highlight the main characteristics of what the authors call ‘the economy of qualities’. The authors show that qualifying products and positioning goods are major concerns for agents evolving within the ‘economy of qualities’. Competition in such an economy is structured through two basic mechanisms. The first is what the authors propose to call the process of singularization of products. The second is the mechanism whereby consumers are attached to and detached from, goods that are proposed to them. At the heart of these logics, one can find multiple socio-technical devices that are designed by economic agents, which ensure the distribution of cognitive competencies, and which constantly and finely tune supply and demand. Relying upon Jean Gadrey’s work, the authors claim that the economy of qualities is nowhere more effective than in services providing activities, and especially in those sectors that invest heavily in New Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Finally, the authors suggest that, in the economy of qualities, the functioning and the organization of markets are issues that are shared by scholars and actors. In these highly reflexive markets, a collaboration between them is needed.