Constantinos Petrides, International relations officer,

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GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS The European Experience

• Constantinos Petrides, International relations
  officer,
• DG Agriculture and Rural Development, European
  Commission
• FAO-EC-DIP Regional Seminar on rural development
  agricultural food quality liknked to
  geographical origin in Asia, 8-11 June 2009

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OVERVIEW

• Gis in Europe
• GI protection in the world
• Why GIs?
• EU GI policies
• Legal mechanisms
• Statistics (from DG AGRI)

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GI developments in Europe

• Long history
• Edam, Gouda and Leidse kaas, trade with Paris
  since 1184
• Cítricos Valencianos known as Valencianas in
  France early 19th century
• Paris convention 1883 (distinction between Gis
  and TMs)
• Lisbon Agreement 1958 (system of international
  registration of GI 19 countries)
• EU GIs Noord-Hollandse Edammer Gouda en,
  Boeren-Leidse met sleutels

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• Gradually introduced at EC level
• Wines since 1970,reformed in 2008 1
• Spirits since 1989, reformed in 20082
• Foodstuffs since 19923
• 1 Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 of the Council
  on the common organisation of wine (JO L 148
  6.6.2008, p. 1).
• 2 Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 of the European
  Parliament and the Council on spirit drinks (JO L
  39 13.2.2008, p. 16).
• 3 Regulation (EEC) No 510/2006 of the Council
  on the protection of geographical indications and
  designations of origin for agricultural products
  and foodstuffs (JO L 208, 24.7.1992, p. 1).

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GI development in Europe an evolving process..

• Public consultation on quality policy
• For all quality production
• Deadline 31 December 2008.
• Commission Communication on quality schemes
• - Published May 2009
• - Develop further proposals for GIs better
  protection
• - No legal proposals yet

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• EU Quality Policy
• Deals with food quality in a broad sense
• Labelling issues (origin labelling),
  Certification schemes (organic, animal welfare),
  Marketing standards, GIs
• Geographical indications
• Functioning of the system
• relation with trademarks
• problems encountered by GIs on foreign markets
• interest of foreign GIs to register in Europe
  (from S.E Asia too)
• Unique register?

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Gis protection in the world
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EU agreements on Gis
Norway
Iceland
Ukraine
Canada
CH
Azerbajan
CH
Moldova
W. Balkans
Armenia
Georgia
EUROMED
USA
Korea
GCC
Mexico
China
India
ACP/EPAs
CA
ASEAN
Andeans
Mercosur
Australia
Chile
SA
Concluded
Ongoing
Future
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World GI issues in the world (WTO)

• Towards an international register of the GIs ?
• - mandatory (with ex officio protection) ?
• - a simple Database ?
• Extension of the protection from the wines to
• all products ?
• Claw back list ? (to recover the
• old GIs)
• Bilateral agreements

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Why GIs?

• Consumers Increasing demand for guaranteed
  origin and quality
• Producers build on reputation to retain
  competitiveness
• Regulation Fair competition in a global market
  (e.g usurpations)
• Rural development Keep value-added in rural
  communities and prevent de-localisation of
  production
• Spill over effects in economic activity e.g
  positive impact on tourism
• Environmental Preserve biodiversity, natural
  resources

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economic impact

• Value adding
• EU trend ? production for high value markets
• Price premium (eg. FR GI wines 230 )
• Price exported cheeses 7,5 vs 4,7 /kg for
  GI/non GI
• Gis in EU agricultural trade
• 25 30 covered by GIs (15 20 billion p.y.)
• 80 of total wine exports are Gis
• Almost all spirits exports are GIs

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economic impact

• EU trend Comté and Emmental, 1971-2002
• Source Dupont, 2004

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economic impact Price premium PDO
olive oil  Baena 
Source Case study  Baena  PDO extra virgin
olive oil. F. Caceres Clavero, C. Riccioli, E.
Martinez Navarro, R. Garcia Collado. Junta de
Andalucia/JRC-ITPS
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environmental impact

• Lesser production intensification
• Use of fertilisers and herbicide increased 2.5
  times less rapidly in GI areas (1990-2000)
• 6 times more botanic species identified per field
  in GI area in relation to artificial grasslands
• Traditional production techniques are more
  friendly to environment
• Production disciplines

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social impact

• Employment
• In Italy, GI products offer employment to more
  than 300,000 citizens

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social/environmental impact
Friesland and Emilia Romagna cheeses compared
1.57 billion kg of milk
Bulk model Friesland (Netherlands)
Quality model Parmigiano Reggiano (Italy)
Number of farms Annual Working Unit/farm Total
AWU Income/AWU Nitrogen loss/kg ha-1
8,400 2,5 21,000 239
ltlt ltlt ltlt equal gtgt
5,000 1,7 8,500 309
Source High quality products and regional
specialties a promising trajectory for
endogenous and sustainable development, Prof.
Jan Douwe van der Ploeg, OECD, Siena, Italy,
10-12 July 2002
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social/environmental impact
Effect on rural areas example of PGI Volailles
de Loué (FR)
30 million broilers p. year
Bulk model
Quality model PGI Volailles de Loué
Numbers of farms Total Annual Working
Unit Agricultural landLand management
1.000 3.000 (450 in Loué) 9.500 ha grass
land24.000 ha cereals 750.000 trees
planted1.200 km hedges planted
150 500 not land-based nil
ltlt ltlt
Source Institut National des Appellations
dOrigine, France 2004
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social/environmental impact

• GIs maintain dairy herds in GI zones in  Alpes
  du nord 

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EU policy instruments in support of GIs

• Rural Development programming
• Setting up of producer groups
• Marketing support
• Individual farmers
• Incentives for participation in Quality Schemes
• Agri-environmental and animal welfare programs
• Rare breeds.
• Direct payments (some support for quality
  schemes)
• Information Promotion campaigns
• External GI policy (to facilitate international
  GI registration)

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Oscypek (Polish GI)
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GI Statistics

• Number of PDOs by NUTS3 in the European Union

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State of play EU GI registers21 April 2009
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State of play EU GI registers (2) 21 April 2009
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Word of caution successful GIs require

• Strong producer group that
• Represents all concerned parties
• Enjoys strong support within GI zone
• Has a well structured production chain
• Has an effective marketing and supply strategy.
• Main risks
• Producers lose interest
• Pressure from distribution chain
• Competition from trademarks.

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Thank you for your attention Further information
on our website http//ec.europa.eu/agriculture/q
ual/