This article has been written by Dr Tamanna Khosla a first year student of Lloyd college, New Delhi.

In the current world context it is difficult to adjudicate with certainty the history and origin of a exotic  menu, a segment of garment, an exquisite artefact, or a homespun item and henceforth the need of Geographical indication labelling of products.

 Dismally, some people do not hesitate to unscrupulously copy and pass those goods under their trademark. The law governing the Geographical Indication tags came into force on 15th September 2003. The first ever GI tag in India was given to Darjeeling Tea. Recently the Government of India has allotted Geographical Indication tag to Kashmir Saffron and Manipuri Black Rice.

 Albeit the idea of GI has been around for centuries, the French were the first to create a formal system to categorise and recognise various products/foods that had unique features and were exclusively produced in or linked with a ocertain location. They created a medium called the “appellation d’origine controlee,” which  is still in use.

The term Geographical Indications are defined under Article 22 (1) of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) as: “Indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a member, or a region or a locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographic origin.” The Paris Convention for the protection of Industrial Property, 1883, under Article 1(2) and Article 10, provides the framework for the protection and safeguarding rules for Geographical Indication. It covers commercial names, service marks, industrial designs, geographical identifiers, and so forth. The Madrid Agreement for Repression of False or Deceptive Indications of Source of Goods, 1891, also talks about Geographical Indication. The concept of GI is also covered under The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights under Article 22 to Article 24.

What Are Geographical Indication Tags In India?

This label is regarded as a certification that states that the product was made in a specific geographical region. This makes it possible for the prominent product names to be protected against those who are not authorized producers. 

To put it in another way, the product possesses a unique characteristics. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)[1] defines a geographical indication as a distinguishing sign that has a particular place of origin, and that highlights the characteristics  which the good possesses. The GI tag makes sure that only those who have registered as authorised users are permitted to use the trade name. 

 Select Features of the Indian GI Act

The definition included in the GI Act is fairly broad. Section 1(3)(e) defines a GI as

follows:geographical indication”, in relation to goods, means an indication which

identifies such goods as agricultural goods, natural goods or manufactured

goods as originating, or manufactured in the territory of a country, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of such goods is essentially attributable to its geographical origin and in case where such goods are manufactured goods one of the activities of either the production or of processing or preparation of the goods concerned takes place in such territory, region or locality, as the case may be.

The explanation added to this definition clarifies that for the purposes of this clause, any name which is not the name of a country, region or locality of that country

is also eligible to get protection as a GI, provided the required conditions are satisfied.  (Das, 2009, p 3).According to Das” This clearly creates room for providing protection to symbols other than geographical names, such as ‘Basmati’ (rice), ‘Alphonso’ (mango).

To understand the context, while the TRIPS definition17 refers to ‘goods’ as a whole, Section1(3)(f) of the GI Act specifies that:“goods” means any agricultural, natural or manufactured goods or any goods of handicraft or of industry and includes food stuff;”However, since the aforesaid categories of goods basically cover the entire gamut of ‘goods’, the definition in the GI Act does not seem to deviate from the scope of coverage of ‘goods’ under Article 22.1 of TRIPS (Das, 2007a, p.28).

According to Das,“While TRIPS requires ‘a given quality, reputation or other characteristic’ of the good to be essentially attributable to its geographical origin, the GI Act, in case of manufactured goods, includes the additional requirement that, one of the activities ofeither the production, or processing, or preparation of the good concerned must alsogood as originating in the territory of a Member, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin. This requirement is more stringent than that under Article 22.1 of TRIPS. (Das, 2007a, p.28).

As for ‘a given quality, reputation and other characteristic’, TRIPS does not clarify any of these requirements further. Thus TRIPS is mute on whether these requirements imply only such qualities and attributes, which may be  ‘natural factors’ (e.g. climate, topography, etc.), or whether those characteristics that result from ‘human factors’ (e.g. specialized skills of artisans) may also be covered in Article 22.1. Unlike TRIPS, the GI Act explicitly mentions ‘human factors’. Section 11(2)(a) of the GI Act, which lays down what an application for GI registration should contain, refers to the ‘geographical environment, with its inherent natural and human factors’. ( das, 2017). Again, as per Section 32(1) of the GI Rules, an application for a GI is required to be supported by ‘the detailed description of the human creativity involved’ and ‘the particulars of special human skill involved’. The significance of the explicit reference to ‘human factors’ in the GI Act may be appreciated when judged in light of the fact that India has in its possession numerous handicrafts and handloom products that are apt to be protected as GIs and in the production of these items specialized human skills and craftsmanship play a significant role (Das, 2006b, p.50).

The GI Act contains a system of notarisation. While at the onset notarisation is for a period of ten years, it may subsequently be renewed. A GI may be registered under more than one class of goods. For instance, ‘Pochampally Ikat’ has been inscribed under three classes: 24,25 and 27.

Here are few examples of GI Tags in India:

Significance Of GI label 

Geographical Indication tags are significant in the present capitalist and cosmopolitan world. For example:

1. It alleviate export in nations especially developing world
2. It encourages the economic prosperity of producers of Geographical Indication .
3. It increases the trade and tourism.
4. It prevents unauthorised use of Geographical Indication Tags products by others.
5. It avoids sale of low-quality products in the market.

SC Judgment on Basmati Rice

Supreme Court: The Bench of L. Nageswara Rao, B.R. Gavai and B.V. Nagarathna, JJ., addressed a matter with respect to registration of ‘Basmati’ as a Geographical Indication for basmati rice. In the present matter, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (“APEDA”) filed an application before the Assistant Registrar of the Geographical Indications Registry, Chennai to register ‘Basmati’ as a Geographical Indication in Class 30 under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. In its application, APED claimed five States in their entirety (Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh) and parts of two States (Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir) as “traditionally Basmati cultivating areas” in India. The application was accepted and published by the GI Registry in the GI Journal inviting objections to the acceptance, if any, from third parties under the GI Act. The petitioners in instant special leave petitions raised oppositions on the ground that APEDA had failed to include 13 districts of the State of Madhya Pradesh in its GI application as Basmati growing areas. The Supreme Court held that: “The [subsequently filed pending writ petitions] pertain to the validity of the order passed by the Assistant Registrar rejecting the contention of the petitioners for inclusion of 13 districts in the State of Madhya Pradesh for the purposes of the Basmati GI. The petitioners cannot raise the dispute pertaining to over-inclusion of areas in the other States in those pending writ petitions.” Therefore, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the issues involved, the Supreme Court set aside the impugned decision of the High Court and remanded the matters (SCC Online)

Legislation That Are Governing GI Tags In India

There are three approaches that have been adopted to protect Geographical Indication tags around the world:

• Focus on business practices, consisting of administrative product approval schemes.
• Usage of certification marks
• Special regimes of protection (sui generis systems)( Kumar, 2023)
• Regarding geographical indication, India has established a sui generis system. The structure mandated by the Geographical Indications Goods (Registration and Protection) Rules, 2002, is operationalized by the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. Section 2(e) of the Rules defines the term ‘Geographical Indication’.

Kumar points out that “Any producer, whether an individual, a group of people, an organisation, or a legal entity, may apply for a GI tag”. A Geographical Indication tag is only valid for ten years, but it can be periodically renewed .432 Geographical Indications tags have been assigned to various goods by Indian government.( Kumar., 2022)

The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act of 1999 exercise control over the granting of the Geographical Indication tag. Any company or producer of intellectual property is eligible to apply for GI tag. 

  A product with a GI forbids unauthorised usage of the goods and increases financial gain for the producers by exporting the product to trade nationally and internationally. The price of a GI product rises on the international market as exports rise. ( Kumar, 2022)

Conclusion

GI tag is a trade name or label applied to particular products that deputes a particular geographic region or country of origin. The GI tag’s primary feature is its distinctivness which guards against any form of third-party misuse.  According to Kumar, “The geographical indication supplied to the good confers the exclusive right on the authorised user”. Geographical designation properly acknowledges the value of the commodity. It stops any form of ambiguous representation. Geographical Indication establishes a clear connection between the product and its place of origin. Darjeeling tea was the country of India’s first GI-tagged product in 2003; since then, 432 products have been added to the growing list.

In afederal India there can be tensions between states as we have seen in basmati rice case. SO all these need to be resolved so that not one state suffers and indigenous nature of a product belonging to a state is not lost. Exporting of products will only benefit the state to where the product belongs. Internationally several countries including Nepal have been claiming patent over Basmati. So India has to protect its culture against usurpation by any other country and thus the need of a robust GI policy 

END NOTES

https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/2021/09/06/geographical-indication/

This article was written byAstitva Kumar on corpbiz.io,Importance of GI in India, The link:https://corpbiz.io/learning/importance-of-geographical-indication-tags-in-india/

Kasturi Das, Socio-Economic implication of GI in India, Centre for WTO studies,2009

https://ipindia.gov.in/writereaddata/Portal/Images/pdf/GI_Application_Register_List_22-05-2023.pdf