Part 1: Geographical Indications (GI): concept, relevance and protection

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From the course by Technische Universität München (TUM)

The Economics of Agro-Food Value Chains

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Technische Universität München (TUM)

The Economics of Agro-Food Value Chains

80 ratings

Have a look at our trailer for a brief introduction to this course: https://youtu.be/GADAgxTHjgE In this course, you learn how the agro-food value chain approaches the challenge of constantly improving its competitiveness by producing high quality food and products and also aiming to attain greater sustainability. Some of the topics of this course are: • The notion of quality for food and agricultural products and consumer value. • How to conduct market research in this field. • Labelling, branding and pricing strategies, as-well as innovation in the agro-food sector. • How sustainability can be used as a competitive advantage through corporate social responsibility. • The role and different types of industrial standards. • The different forms of coordination in the chain, in particular with regard to the retailing and distribution sector. This course is taught by a group of international experts from Universities in Italy, Germany, Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. Each of them will give you insights into a specific topic related to food quality and the organization of the agro-food value chains.

From the lesson

Module 8: Geographical Indicators

This module is about “Geographical Indicators”. After the module you will be able to explain the notion of “Geographical Indication” and the key facts about the protection of GIs in the EU. You will also be able to explain the importance of the GI sector within the EU market.

Part 1: Geographical Indications (GI): concept, relevance and protection6:30

Part 2: Geographical Indications (GI): concept, relevance and protection8:03

Meet the Instructors

Hannes Lang
Research Associate
Technical University of Munich
Luisa Menapace
Professor
Technical University of Munich
Faical Akaichi
Research Economist
Scotland’s Rural College
Francesco Bimbo
Research Economist
Wageningen University
Montserrat Costa-Font
Research Economist
Scotland’s Rural College
Carlo Russo
Associate Professor
University of Cassino and Lazio Meridionale
Chenguang Li
Research Economist
University College Dublin

Welcome to module eight dedicated to Geographical Indications.

My name is Luisa Menapace and and I am a Professor for Governance in

International Agribusiness at the Technical University of Munich.

This module is divided into two lessons. In the first lesson we are going to talk

about a concept of Geographical Indications (GI for short),

their relevance in the EU market and the key facts related to the system of GI protection

used in the EU for food and agricultural products. In the second lesson we will

discuss a model that shows how GI certification can improve market efficiency.

After completing this lesson you will be able to: explain the notion of Geographic Indication;

explain the key facts regarding the importance of GIs in the EU market;

and explain key facts regarding the EU system of protection

for GIs and their economic implications.

GI are a form of intellectual property rights

just like trademarks or patents. They were recognized internationally as a

form of property rights in the TRIPS Agreement of the World Trade Organization in 94.

The TRIPS agreement, the agreement on trade-related aspects

of intellectual property rights, sets down minimum standards for intellectual

property protection in international markets. This is the definition of GI

provided by the TRIPS Agreement.

In their very essence, GI are indications

(primarily geographical names) that identify a good as originating from a

given area where the quality or reputation of the good is essentially

attributable to it's geographical origin.

A key feature of GIs is, therefore the link between the geographical origin and the quality of a good.

A standard example of the quality-geography link, is the link between the

features of the soil and the quality of a wine. Known GIs are Champagne, the sparkling

wine from the Champagne region of France and Prosciutto di Parma or Parma ham,

the dry-cured ham from the Italian region of Parma.

While formalized only in 1994 at the WTO level,

the concept of GIs is much older. In France, for example appellation of origin

(an equivalent concept to GIs) were in use already during Napoleon's time.

At the EU level there exists a body of regulations, listed on this slide, that protect GI

names from misuse and imitation. These regulations cover different product categories

agricultural products and foodstuffs,

wines, spirits and aromatised wines. In spite of the existence of different regulations,

the system used for the protection of GIs in the EU is quite similar

across products. In what follows, I will focus on the system used for

agricultural products and foodstuffs. This system was introduced in 1992 and

successively updated, most recently we regulation 1151 in 2012.

The GI system for agricultural products and foodstuffs distinguishes two types of GIs.

Protected Designations of Origin (or PDOs) and Protected Geographical indications (or PGIs).

On the left of the screen, you see the EU PDO and PGI seals.

The seals must accompany the GI name on all

GI-certified products. These seals are meant for consumers to be able to

distinguish GI products from generic products and are an indication of the

good quality of the product. The main distinction between the two types of GIs

is the nature of the quality-geography link, which is stronger for PDOs than for PGIs.

In particular, in the case of PGIs, the good reputation of a given area for the

production of certain product may be sufficient to obtain GI protection. Here is an example.

An example of a PGI is Nürnberger Lebkuchen.

These are Christmas treats, similar to gingerbread, from the city of Nürnberg, Germany.

Lebkuchen are made with honey, nuts and many spices such as aniseed, coriander

cloves, ginger, cardamom and allspice. These spices are key ingredients

but clearly are not typical products from Germany. What is critical for Nürnberger

Lebkuchen to qualify as a PGI is the long tradition of the production of

Lebkuchen in the area of Nürnberg, a tradition that has resulted in a

refining of the product to a very high quality. Testimony of the long

tradition can be found in illustrations of the art of Lebkuchen-making as early

as in the sixteenth century. Here is an example of such an illustration.

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