To fulfil its obligations under the CETA, in 2017 the Canadian government passed the Bill C-30 (“An Act to implement the CETA between Canada and the European Union and its Member States and to provide for certain other measures”). Thanks to this, GIs right-holders can now file applications with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). All relevant information concerning the application process are available here. The price for an individual application is 450 Canadian dollars.
With respect to border enforcement (to tackle GIs infringements by products imported in Canada from a third country), the Canadian law was amended to empower the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to carry out checks, either ex officio or through a request by the concerned right-holder or “responsible authority” according to Canadian terminology (Request for Assistance – RFA). Following a RFA, the CBSA can seize and detain at the border goods suspected of infringing GIs rights. Since the provisional application of CETA, however, no RFA concerning European GIs has been submitted to the CBSA. Additional information on border enforcement measures available in Canada, including the RFA application form, can be found @ https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/security-securite/ipr-dpi/app-dem-eng.html
Concerning legislative and administrative measures, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is the responsible authority. All food labels or advertisements must be accurate, truthful and not intended to mislead consumers. Companies are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of this information as well as for complying with Canadian packaging laws. Thanks to the CETA, the CFIA has been given the task to deal with GIs infringements upon the request of right-holders. In this respect, complaints should be filed through the following web portal
For more information on the Canadian GIs system, please check the EU guide and the national GIs database.
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
