In September, the Intellectual Property chapter (including its annexes concerning the list of GIs to be protected under the agreement) of the EU/Mercosur FTA were published for information purposes. The text might undergo further modifications in the process of legal revision.
These are the main elements concerning GIs:
- 355 EU GIs (food, wines and spirits) will be protected in the Mercosur countries at a level comparable to that of the EU (see Article X.35.2 – scope of the protection);
- Article X.33.5 provides that non-agricultural GIs may be protected according to the laws and regulations applicable in each Party (Annex III includes non-agricultural GIs from Brazil and Paraguay);
- Article X.35.9 lists the GIs for which a specific level of protection is defined because of the prior users “grandfathering” agreed for certain economic actors in Mercosur countries. In this respect, as requested by oriGIn, the list of prior users will be included before the conclusion of the agreement (this will be the first time in a bilateral agreement and will facilitate its enforcement);
- Annex II lists a number of terms – used in the Mercosur countries and corresponding to European GIs – for which a phasing out period was agreed upon before GIs full protection is granted;
- Appendix to Annex II lists the names for which protection is not sought in the framework of the Agreement.
This summary has been extracted from an “oriGIn Alert”, which is a service reserved exclusively to oriGIn members. Click here to join oriGIn
For more information about bilateral and plurilateral agreements covering GIs see the concerning category in the section Policy and Advocacy
