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The EU’s quality policy is designed to protect the identity of unique products, celebrating their geographical roots and traditional expertise through Geographical Indications (GIs). Products with strong ties to their place of origin gain recognition with GIs, enabling consumers to trust their quality and authenticity while empowering producers to market their goods with a distinct competitive edge.
What Are Geographical Indications (GIs)?
A Geographical Indication (GI) is a sign used on goods that originate from a specific location and possess qualities, reputation, or characteristics linked to that origin. GIs ensure that products maintain their authenticity by tying their unique features to their place of production. For instance, the richness of Irish Whiskey can be traced back to the regions they come from.
GIs in combination with quality schemes offer a multitude of benefits, impacting producers, consumers, and the environment:
- Economic Growth and Local Development – By protecting regional products, GIs prevent the delocalization of production, creating jobs and boosting local economies.
- Consumer Trust and Informed Choices – GIs enable consumers to identify and trust products with verified origins and qualities.
- Preservation of Biodiversity and Traditions – The GI framework promotes sustainable agricultural practices, safeguarding traditional methods and biodiversity.
- Global Trade Opportunities – As recognized intellectual property, GIs enhance competitiveness in international markets, playing a pivotal role in trade negotiations.
- Healthy and Diversified Diets – By preserving traditional food products, GIs contribute to the availability of diverse, high-quality foods.
Types of Geographical Indications in the EU
The EU’s geographical indications system protects the names of products that originate from distinct regions and are distinguished by unique qualities or a reputation tied to their place of production:
1. Protected Designation of Origin (PDO)
- Focus: Strongest connection to the place of origin.
- Specifications: Every part of the production, processing, and preparation must occur within the defined area. For wines, the grapes must exclusively originate from the region.
- Example: Kalamata Olive Oil PDO from Greece.
- Products Covered: Food, agricultural products, and wines.
2. Protected Geographical Indication (PGI)
- Focus: Highlights the relationship between the product and its geographic region, emphasizing quality, reputation, or unique characteristics.
- Specifications: At least one stage of production, processing, or preparation must take place in the designated area. For wines, at least 85% of the grapes must come from the region.
- Example: Westfälischer Knochenschinken PGI ham from Germany.
- Products Covered: Food, agricultural products, and wines.
3. Geographical Indication for Spirit Drinks (GI)
- Focus: Ensures that spirit drinks maintain their geographical authenticity.
- Specifications: At least one stage of production or preparation must take place in the region, though raw materials can originate elsewhere.
- Example: Irish Whiskey GI.
- Products Covered: Spirit drinks.
4. Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG)
- Focus: The Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) designation emphasizes the traditional characteristics of a product, such as its method of production or composition, without tying it to a specific geographic location. Registering a product as a TSG ensures protection against imitation and misuse.
- Example: Gueuze TSG, a traditional beer made through spontaneous fermentation, is typically produced in and around Brussels, Belgium. However, as a TSG product, its production method is safeguarded, allowing it to be made in other locations as well.
- Products Covered: Food and agricultural products.
5. Mountain Products
- Focus: The term “mountain product” emphasizes the unique qualities of goods produced in mountainous regions, characterized by challenging natural conditions. This designation benefits both farmers and consumers by enhancing marketability for farmers while ensuring transparency about the product’s distinctive attributes for consumers.
- Specifications: Raw materials and animal feed must originate from mountain regions. For processed products, the production process must also occur within these areas.
- Products Covered: Agricultural and food products.
6. Products of EU’s Outermost Regions
- Focus: Agriculture in the EU’s outermost regions faces unique challenges due to their remote and insular nature, combined with difficult geographical and climatic conditions. To enhance recognition and promote agricultural products from these regions—such as the French Overseas Departments (Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion, and Martinique) and the Azores, Madeira, and Canary Islands—a specialized logo has been introduced.
- Specifications: Products must be cultivated or produced within the EU’s outermost regions.
- Products Covered: Agricultural and food products.
Moreover, certification schemes initiated at the national level or by private organizations play a vital role in assuring consumers of product quality. Complementing EU-led initiatives, numerous private and national food certification programs and logos exist. These schemes cover diverse purposes and function as bridges between businesses or directly between businesses and consumers. To ensure the effective operation of such voluntary schemes, the European Commission, in collaboration with stakeholders, has developed guidelines that showcase best practices for their implementation and management.
Recent Developments in EU Quality Schemes
To strengthen the GI system further, the EU brought forth the latest regulation on May 13, 2024 (Regulation (EU) 2024/1143). The timeline for the introduction of this regulation was as follows:
Key updates include:
- Unified Legal Framework and Streamlined Registration Process: The new regulation consolidates various GI procedures and protections across the food, wine, and spirits sectors into a single framework. This unification simplifies the registration process, making it more efficient and accessible.
- Enhanced Protection for GIs in Ingredients & Online Markets: The updated rules provide greater safeguards for GIs used as ingredients in processed products and for GI-labeled products sold online. The regulation bolsters the protection of GI names within the domain name system.
- Promotion of Sustainable Practices: Producers can now highlight their efforts toward environmental, economic, and social sustainability. Producer groups may choose to mandate certain sustainable practices for their products, integrating these into product specifications. Furthermore, producers can voluntarily create sustainability reports, which will be published by the European Commission.
- Strengthened Roles for Producers’ Groups: The regulation introduces a voluntary system for officially recognized GI producer groups in EU countries. These groups are granted expanded authority to manage, enforce, and promote their GIs, empowering them to enhance their competitiveness and influence within the value chain.
Protection of Products Labeled With Geographical Indications in EU
Under the EU’s intellectual property framework, products registered with Geographical Indications (GIs) receive legal protection against imitation and misuse within the EU. This protection extends to non-EU countries that have formal agreements with the EU to safeguard these designations.
Each EU member state is responsible for ensuring the integrity of registered GIs within its borders. National authorities take necessary actions to prevent and halt the unlawful production or sale of goods using protected names.
Non-EU product names can also gain GI status if their country has established a bilateral or regional agreement with the EU that guarantees mutual protection for such names. This has led to the recognition of various products, including wines, food, and spirit drinks, from countries like Colombia and South Africa. To access information about registered GIs, stakeholders can refer to eAmbrosia, the official database of EU GI registrations.
As the EU continues to refine and expand the GI and quality scheme programs, GIs will remain a core element of its quality policy, developing trust, quality, and tradition across the globe.
Smart Food Safe’s Smart Label as an Enabler of Complying with EU Schemes on GI
Smart Food Safe’s Smart Label emerges as an indispensable tool to meet the potential challenges that can come up for food businesses striving to comply with the EU schemes on GI, providing food manufacturers and processors with an effective, centralized solution for label creation and compliance.
Smart Label incorporates a robust database of ingredients, enabling manufacturers to calculate nutrition facts, allergens, and other label essentials seamlessly. Its automatic recipe analysis ensures that every detail, from ingredient origins to processing specifics, aligns with the EU’s stringent GI requirements.
One of the unique features of Smart Label is its multi-language support, which is crucial for GI products marketed across diverse EU and global markets. Labels can be tailored to include all necessary information, such as quality marks or protected status logos, ensuring they comply with GI guidelines while appealing to a broader audience.
Smart Label reduces the burden of manual updates by automating the process of incorporating regulatory changes or ingredient alterations. This feature is critical in the EU’s dynamic regulatory environment, where compliance updates for GI products, such as the new Regulation (EU) 2024/1143, must be reflected promptly on labels.
Smart Label also supports producers’ sustainability initiatives, enabling them to highlight environmentally and socially responsible practices. This aligns with the EU’s recent push for sustainability within GI frameworks, offering producers an edge in promoting their commitments to consumers.
By simplifying the intricate processes for GI compliance, Smart Label enables producers to focus on maintaining the quality, authenticity, and reputation of their products, ensuring they meet the high standards set by the EU’s GIs and quality schemes.
