As announced in the Farm to Fork Strategy in May 2020, the European Commission wants to enhance the visibility of Geographical Indications (GIs) by empowering producer groups, reviewing ways to promote and protect the EUs’ traditional foods and speeding up registration procedures among others. One of the announced objectives is to improve the sustainability of production under these schemes to promote more sustainable foods. including by the creation of sustainability criteria for GIs.
The European Commission has just published a roadmap detailing how it intends to address these challenges. 1/3 of Geographical Indications in the European Union are produced in mountain areas, the voice of mountain producers is therefore highly welcomed in the debate.
Don’t hesitate to provide feedback on this roadmap until November 25, 2020. A more detailed public consultation will also follow this roadmap and should be open to feedback by the end of 2020. Useful elements can be found in our article on the Farm to Fork Strategy (for members only) and in our recent position paper on the review of the EU Promotion Policy.
Non-agricultural geographical indications under discussions
The European Commission is also currently addressing the matter of Non-Agricultural Geographical Indications (NGIs), which could further help to maintain traditional knowhows, employment and added in value in our regions. The European Commission is working on an action plan which should fix a legal framework to protect intellectual property and non-agricultural geographical indications. Euromontana will follow this process.
Both issues of sustainability of GIs and protection of non-agricultural GIs will be discussed during the upcoming conference “Strengthening geographical indications”, organised by DG AGRI on November 25 and 26, 2020. You can find more on the agenda and register on the event’s webpage.
10 November 2020
