On 21 September, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada entered into force provisionally. CETA GIs provisions are therefore operational, as any other rule covering sectors of EU exclusive competence.
In this context, to fulfil its obligations under the CETA, the Canadian government passed last May 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”). The new legislation introduces a number of amendments to the Trademarks Act related to the protection of GIs, in particular:
- It amends the definition of GIs, extending the scope of protection beyond wine and spirits to agricultural products and foodstuff;
- It provides for protection of EU GIs found in Annex 20-A of the CETA;
- In addition to the GIs of Annex 20-A, other GIs can be recognised and protected in Canada by making a request with the registrar.
For more information, see the full text of the Bill and a detailed analysis
Meanwhile in Quebec, “Maïs sucré de Neuville” has been recognized as a GI and the application for “vin du Québec” is in process . Together with “Maïs sucré de Neuville”, currently 3 other GIs are recognized in Quebec: “Agneau de Charlevoix”, “Vin de glace du Québec” and “Cidre de glace du Québec”.
This summary has been extracted from an “oriGIn Alert”, which is a service reserved exclusively to oriGIn members.
