IG AND STG SCHEMES ARE BENEFICIAL FOR PRODUCERS
The European Commission recently published the research ‘Evaluation of GIs and TSGs protected in the EU’. Based on an external study and additional sources of information, this evaluation contributes to the ongoing review of the European GI scheme for agricultural products, wines and spirits and its impact assessment.
The evaluation concluded that the objectives of GIs and TSGs have been effectively achieved. They offer a wide range of possible benefits for stakeholders, such as a fair return and competition for farmers and producers. Although they are not systematically applied in all Member States and are little known and understood by consumers in some Member States, they provide clear European added value. The key policy objectives – supporting GIs as intellectual property rights, safeguarding the integrity of the internal market, providing common standards for trade with third countries and helping producers of TSG products to safeguard traditional production methods and recipes – are also largely achieved. The main limitations are the still low consumer awareness and understanding of the systems in some Member States, the complex and time-consuming registration procedures, and some weaknesses in controls at the downstream stages of the value chain.
In the period from 2010 to 2020, the number of registered GI names increased by 27% to over 3000, while the number of registered TSG names doubled, albeit to only 60 registrations. However, the specific objective of the TSG system is not fully achieved. The main element hindering the success of the system is the low perceived added value for producers to register a TSG. This stems from a combination of several factors, such as low consumer awareness of TSGs and its complex registration process.
Nevertheless, TSGs are assessed as efficient, with the various benefits for producers outweighing the costs of a complex and time-consuming registration process, and the low costs for public authorities (at EU and national level) estimated at 0.12% of total sales value.
The evaluation found the schemes relevant for both private stakeholders and public authorities and did not identify any major inconsistencies between GIs and EU trademarks, GI/TSGs and national/regional schemes or GI/TSGs and other EU policies.
Source: European Commission, for more details click here: https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/key-policies/common-agricultural-policy/cmef/products-and-markets/geographical-indications-and-traditional-specialities-guaranteed-protected-eu_it
