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Towards better international protection for geographical indications

On Thursday, January 21, 2021, France became the first member state of the European Union to ratify the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement, an international agreement extending the international protection already granted to PDOs via the Lisbon Agreement to products under geographical indications (spirit drinks -IG-, or wine -IGP- or agri-food -IGP-).

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International cooperation Protected geographical indication Protected Designation of Origin Protection of signs and names Geneva Act
La France (par l'intermédiaire de François Rivasseau, Ambassadeur de France auprès de l’ONU - à gauche) a déposé le 21 janvier son instrument de ratification de l’Acte de Genève auprès du Directeur général de l’OMPI, M. Daren Tang.

This Thursday, January 21, 2021, France deposited its instrument of ratification, signed by the President of the Republic, of the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications ("Geneva Act") with the Director General of WIPO, Mr. Daren Tang, by Mr. François Rivasseau, Ambassador of France to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva and other international organizations in Switzerland. François Rivasseau, Ambassador of France to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva and other international organizations in Switzerland.

France is one of the oldest members of the Lisbon Agreement and one of the main users of the Lisbon international registration system, with several hundred registrations. The Geneva Act, adopted in 2015 by the World Intellectual Property Organization came into force on February 26, 2020. To date, six countries or intergovernmental organizations have ratified the Act: Albania, Cambodia, Laos, Korea, Samoa and the European Union. France is thus the first European Union country to have joined this new system, which represents a major step forward in the construction of an international framework for the recognition and protection of GIs.

The "Geneva Act", adopted in 2015 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, an organization attached to the UN) extended to all geographical indications (GIs) the international legal protection granted since 1958 to appellations of origin by the "Lisbon Agreement".

This will enable French GIs (both PGIs and PDOs) to be protected internationally more effectively and at lower cost, via a single international register shared between the states party to this agreement.

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