The EU System for the Protection of Geographical Indications and Its External Dimension

Abstract

The European Union (EU) has established an extensive legal framework for the protection of geographical indications (GIs) for agricultural products, foodstuffs, wines, and spirits. GIs are distinctive signs used to identify a product originating in a territory of a particular country, region, or locality where its quality, reputation, or other characteristic is linked to its geographical origin. In addition, the EU is active in multilateral and bilateral negotiations on this issue. At a multilateral level, they are within the WTO framework. At a bilateral level, it uses two different frameworks: the specific stand alone agreements on GIs (e.g. the currently negotiated agreement with China) and the broader trade agreements (e.g. the Free Trade Agreement (FTA)), such as the negotiations for an EU-Vietnam FTA or the negotiations for an FTA with Japan. The EU has already concluded a series of free trade agreements that contain important levels of protection for geographical indications, such as the EUKorea FTA or the EU-Singapore FTA. In summary, the EU internal rules together with the external agreements concerning the protection of GIs created the world’s largest legal system for GIs. The article presents this legal framework and focuses on the external dimension, e.g. the rights and obligations for participating third countries. Special emphasis thereby is given to the situation in Korea.