The Australian Government is negotiating a Free Trade Agreement
(FTA) with the European Union (EU). As part of the FTA, the EU
wants a variety of geographical indications (GIs) to be
protected.
A GI indicates that a product comes from a specific geographical
area. Use of a GI may indicate that the product was made according
to, eg, traditional methods or may indicate a certain reputation.
An example is "Champagne", which refers to the specific
region of France known for its sparkling wine.
The EU is looking for protection of a specific list of GIs (236
spirit names and 172 agricultural and other foodstuff names) which
includes the names such as: "Camembert de
Normandie" for cheese,
"?Καλαμάτα or
Kalamata" for olive oil, "Φέτα or
Feta" for cheese and "Scotch Beef"
for meat. The EU has confirmed examples of where the protection it
is seeking would not extend to the use of parts of EU GI names
which are identified in the list by text that has been underlined.
The
