Actes et contributions > Par intervenant > Manderieux Laurent

 With the adoption by the European Union of the Craft and Industrial Geographical Indications (CIGI) Regulation (EU) 2023/2411 that establishes a unified EU title for the protection of craft and industrial product names across all EU countries, one of the main trade blocs in the world considerably expanded the subject matter of geographical indications (GIs)[1]. This marks a major innovation in policy, regulatory framework and GI protection, that followed major legal innovations driven by the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) over the last decade, with the constant expansion of the scope in the EU of protection of agricultural geographical indications, actually acknowledged in the Recital of the CIGI Regulation.

Parallel to GI expansion in subject matter and scope, the EU reaffirmed, aver the last decade, its objectives to promoting sustainable development, including through dedicated measures in the Economic Partnership agreements (EPAs) that the EU signed or negotiated with Developing Countries.

This contribution explores whether and how, further to the CIGI Regulation, (1) the Sections dedicated to Geographical Indications in the International Trade Agreements already into force between the EU and numerous trade partners need to be updated in terms of subject matter and scope, to meet the CIGI Regulation and permit to serve at the same time the sustainable development objectives supported by the EU; and (2) how the Sections dedicated to Geographical Indications in the International Trade Agreements currently under negotiation between the EU and numerous trade partners can be shaped in this broader twofold context.

Indeed, there is strong interest, from Developing Countries, in protecting both agricultural and craft and industrial GIs with a sustainable development approach. This might be based, among others: on initiatives, developed more than 20 years ago by Developing Countries within the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) for the development of a Francophone Label on Handicraft; on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) provisions on Traditional Knowledge boosting interest on tradition and creating bridges for larger acceptance of tradition, quality and origin as key concepts for protection that should contribute to influence positively the development of geographical indication systems; and similarly on recent efforts, in WIPO fora, for protection of traditional knowledge. To this end, this contribution argues that, despite profound differences between agricultural and non-agricultural GIs' mechanisms, the parallel inclusion of provisions related to a “sustainable development package” in new EPAs negotiated by the EU shall work as a convergence factor that may lead to further dynamic and positive consideration of both agricultural and non-agricultural GIs in revised and future Trade Agreements, and may facilitate their worldwide expansion and their understanding as a sustainable tool for sustainable development.