5International Agreement on geographical indications
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Committee’s assessment |
Legally and politically important |
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Not cleared from scrutiny; further information requested; drawn to the attention of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and the International Trade Committee |
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Document details |
(a) Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the action of the Union following its accession to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications; (b) Proposal for a Council Decision on the accession of the European Union to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications. |
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Legal base |
(a) Article 207 TFEU, Ordinary legislative procedure, QMV; (b) Articles 207 and 218(6)(a) TFEU, QMV |
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Department |
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs |
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Document Numbers |
(a) (40007), 11515/18, COM(18) 365; (b) (40008), 11510/18 + ADD 1, COM(18) 350 |
Summary and Committee’s conclusions
5.1The EU’s food quality recognition policy aims at protecting and promoting products with unique characteristics linked to their geographical origin as well as traditional know-how. There are 86 protected food names in the UK, such as Welsh Beef, Arbroath Smokies, Cornish clotted cream and Lough Neagh Eels.18 A number of applications are under consideration.
5.2Products can be granted a ‘geographical indication’ (GI) if they have a specific link to the place where they are made. Recognised as intellectual property, GIs play an increasingly important role in trade negotiations between the EU and other countries. Internationally, some countries have agreed under the Lisbon Agreement19 to protect on their territories the appellations of origin (AOs) of products of the other contracting parties. This framework was refined in the Geneva Act20 in 2015, specifying that the Agreement also applies in respect of GIs and including the possibility of accession by intergovernmental organisations such as the EU.
5.3Under the Geneva Act, AOs are geographical denominations of a country, region, or locality, which serve to designate a product originating therein, the quality or characteristics of which are due exclusively or essentially to the geographic environment, including natural and human factors. A GI is a protected status that identifies a product as originating in a country, a region or locality where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the product is attributable to the place where it is produced. “Parma ham” is an example of the former, while “feta cheese”—from Greece—is an example of the latter.
5.4The Commission proposes (document(b)) the EU’s accession to the Geneva Act and proposes an accompanying legal framework (document(a)) for the EU’s participation once it becomes a Contracting Party to the Geneva Act. The proposals are made under Article 207 TFEU (Common Commercial Policy) following a Court of Justice of the EU ruling.21
5.5The Commission’s rationale for the EU becoming a Party is that EU GIs could gain quick, high-level, indefinite protection in the territories of current and future Parties to the Geneva Act. A multilateral GI register, argues the Commission, provides a simpler and more efficient mechanism of international EU GI protection compared to the current practice of negotiating via bilateral agreements. The Commission proposes to implement the Geneva Act by: submitting a list of EU GIs, having consulted with Member States, for protection under the Lisbon system; and putting in place appropriate procedures, including an opposition procedure, for the assessment of AOs and GIs originating in other Contracting Parties and registered in the International Register. The Commission’s proposal anticipates the refusal by the EU of any registration from a contracting party for non-agricultural products.
5.6In his Explanatory Memorandum, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (George Eustice) explains that the Geneva Act does not distinguish between protection for agricultural and non-agricultural GIs. In the EU, non-agricultural GIs fall within Member State competence and are often protected through the trade mark system. The Government is concerned that the EU’s accession to the Geneva Act could lead to the Commission proposing legislation to harmonise protection on non-agricultural products across the EU. The Minister notes that extending EU competence in this area has been debated for a number of years and it is the UK’s long-standing position that a trade mark-oriented approach is sufficient. Some other Member States share this view.
5.7Should the ratification procedure be completed, and the agreement enter into force before the end of any post-Brexit implementation period (i.e. by 31 December 2020), the UK would be bound by the terms of the Geneva Act until the end of the implementation period. The Minister observes that the UK is not a Party to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement in its own right and so would have to accede in its national capacity should it wish to become bound once the implementation period has lapsed.
5.8In his EM, the Minister also draws our attention to US concerns over the Geneva Act. Working groups for a UK-US trade agreement have started and, says the Minister, GIs is a known area of tension.
Geographical indications and EU exit
5.9The future of EU geographical indications in the UK and vice versa is an outstanding issue in the withdrawal negotiations. The UK indicated in its White Paper on the future relationship that it intends to establish its own GI scheme after exit, consistent with the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS). This new UK framework would go beyond the requirements of TRIPS, and would provide a clear and simple set of rules on GIs, and continuous protection for UK GIs in the UK. TRIPS requires that geographical indications are protected in order to avoid misleading the public and to prevent unfair competition, but does not include a registry of GIs and relies—for products other than wines and spirits—on whether the public has been misled. It is therefore a minimum level of protection.
5.10While the protection of UK GIs internationally post-Brexit may be largely reliant on the provisions of TRIPS, the Minister indicated in a letter22 to Baroness Verma that all current UK GIs would continue to be protected by the EU’s GI schemes. This is because current EU legislation means that EU GI protection is indefinite unless specific grounds for cancellation are met. None of the grounds for cancellation relate to a change in status from a Member State to a third country. Such protection would not extend to pending UK applications for EU GI status, of which there are currently 11 as well as a further four to which amendments are being considered.23
5.11In its guidance24 on producing food products protected by a GI in the event of no Brexit deal, the Government acknowledged that—if current UK GIs do not continue to be protected under the EU’s schemes—UK products would need to submit applications to the European Commission as third country producers. Irrespective of the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, the Government expects that those UK GIs currently named in and protected by EU free trade agreements and other sectoral agreements will continue to be protected.
Conclusions
5.12We note that:
- the EU and UK are yet to reach agreement on the mutual recognition of GIs post-Brexit, or at the end of any implementation period;
- the UK is confident that current UK GIs would be protected in the EU in any event;
- a number of new UK GIs are pending and would thus not be protected in the EU in the event of no deal, other than through the provisions of TRIPS;
- the UK plans to introduce its own system of GIs;
- the UK has not decided whether to accede to the Geneva Act in its own right;
- to do so, could affect the terms of any future UK-US trade agreement given US concerns about the Geneva Act; but
- not to do so could hinder the international protection of UK GIs beyond the minimum protections afforded by TRIPS.
5.13Noting the above, we request responses on the following points:
- whether the Commission shares the UK analysis as to the continued protection of current UK GIs under the EU scheme regardless of the outcome of negotiations;
- confirmation that applications for 11 UK products to be granted GI status are pending, as well as a further four applications for amendments to existing GIs, and that any pending applications would not be protected under the EU scheme;
- information on consultations between the Government and producers concerned with the pending applications for UK GIs;
- information on how UK GIs will be protected internationally post-Brexit if the UK does not sign up to the Geneva Act; and
- the extent to which a new UK system aligned with TRIPS would differ from the current EU system.
5.14Turning to the Government’s concern about a possible Commission move to harmonise protection on non-agricultural products, we ask what the impact would be on the UK post-Brexit if the EU changed its approach in that way.
5.15We look forward to a response within ten working days. The documents remain under scrutiny and are drawn to the attention of the International Trade Committee and the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
Full details of the documents
(a) Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the action of the Union following its accession to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications: (40007), 11515/18, COM(18) 365; (b) Proposal for a Council Decision on the accession of the European Union to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications: (40008), 11510/18 + ADD 1, COM(18) 350.
Previous Committee Reports
None.
18 A full list of the UK’s protected food names is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/protected-food-name-scheme-uk-registered-products.
19 Lisbon Agreement of 1958 for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration.
20 Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications.
22 Letter from George Eustice to Baroness Verma, dated 5 September 2018.
23 Protected food name scheme: UK applications being considered, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Accessed 12 September 2018.
24 ‘Producing food products protected by a “geographical indication” if there’s no Brexit deal’, Guidance, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 24 September 2o18.
Published: 16 October 2018