China And EU Sign Agreement On Protection And Cooperation Of Geographical Indications: Mutual Recognition Of Good Goods Benefits Consumers

On September 14, China and the European Union formally signed the agreement on the protection and cooperation of geographical indications between the government of the people's Republic of China and the European Union (hereinafter referred to as the agreement). The agreement will provide a high level of protection for geographical indications of both sides and effectively prevent counterfeiting of geographical indication products.

What is the role of the agreement? What are the benefits for consumers?

According to the person in charge of the Department of article and law of the Ministry of Commerce, geographical indications are an important type of intellectual property rights. The agreement mainly stipulates the rules for the protection of geographical indications and the list of mutual recognition of geographical indications. Geographical indications included in the agreement will enjoy a high level of protection, and can use the official geographical indications of both sides. A total of 275 geographical indication products of each party were included in the appendix of the agreement, involving alcohol, tea, agricultural products, food, etc.

As the first comprehensive and high-level agreement on geographical indications signed by China's foreign trade, the agreement mainly has three highlights

More is one protection. This is the first time for China and Europe to recognize each other's geographical indications on a large scale. Both are well-known and well-known geographical indications of both sides. For example, China's Shaoxing wine, Lu'an Guapian, Anxi Tieguanyin, Eastern Helan Mountain wine; European champagne, Bavarian beer, Parma ham, majina mountain olive oil, etc. These geographical indications will benefit thousands of products and production enterprises.

Second, there are rich types of protection. The geographical indications listed by China in the agreement not only involve wine, tea, agricultural products and food, but also include geographical indications with Chinese characteristics such as Xuan paper and Shu brocade, which represent Chinese traditional culture. Prior to this, the EU signed a geographical indication agreement only involving agricultural products, food and alcohol, which is the first time that the EU has included such geographical indications in its agreement.

Third, high protection treatment. The geographical indications included in the agreement can not only obtain high-level protection in the other party, but also use the other party's official geographical indications, which is conducive to the effective market development of relevant products. The high-level treatment provided by the agreement will be conducive to the recognition of China's related products by EU consumers, and further promote the export of relevant products to Europe; at the same time, it also provides legal protection for effectively preventing the counterfeiting and forgery of geographical indication products.

"Europe has a lot of good special products, such as red wine, milk, desserts and so on, which are very popular with Chinese consumers. After the signing of the agreement, goods of origin have been clearly marked, which makes it easier for our consumers to identify and purchase their favorite European products! " Chen Biwei, a white-collar worker in Beijing, told reporters.

Lu Nan, who lives in Tianjin, also likes to buy some imported food from Europe. She thinks that it is good for consumers and foreign businesses to strengthen the protection of products of origin. "The increase of genuine products in the country of origin not only reduces the difficulty of our choice, but also provides some preferential prices. In the future, I will also turn around more to see what changes there are in stores in different channels. "

For enterprises involved in Sino EU trade, the "mutual recognition of good goods" brought about by the agreement also constitutes a substantial positive.

Yan Zechuan, chairman of the Party committee of the party, has always found a good way to develop tea brands in different regions of the country. Today, the promotion and use of "Tianfu Longya" is not only an innovation in the national tea industry, but also creates conditions for the export of high-quality Chinese tea. "With the protection of landmarks, more stringent quality control standards are needed, so as to move towards a broader international market." Yan zewen said.

Shi Zhongsheng, President of the Fujian Federation of industry and Commerce of France, told our reporter that the signing of the agreement will further expand the scale of trade between China and the EU, consolidate the economic and trade foundation of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the EU, and increase the confidence of overseas Chinese and Chinese who come to and from China and Europe.

"The agreement can give European consumers a better understanding of Chinese products. Many geographical indication products in China are produced in economically underdeveloped areas. Promoting high-quality products from the mountains to the world is conducive to poverty alleviation and income increase, and injects new growth momentum into areas with low income. On the other hand, the agreement provides full protection for the entry of high-quality and characteristic products from the EU into the Chinese market, which can eliminate the worries of EU producers and enable Chinese consumers to eat and use genuine and high-quality goods. " The person in charge of the Department of article and law of the Ministry of Commerce said.