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Centre for WTO Studies at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade organized a two day National Seminar on Geographical Indications (GIs) on the 24th and 25th of September, 2009. The theme of the national seminar “Geographical indications: where do the Indian interests lie?”, was primarily meant to evaluate the domestic and international protection of GIs in the Post TRIPS context. Mr. Yogesh Pai, associate fellow, Centre for Trade and Development, New Delhi participated as a panel speaker in technical session I on the topic “The law on Geographical Indications and its operation in the backdrop of the TRIPS Agreement”.
The primary objective of the presentation was to provide a conceptual and legal backdrop of the current GI regime in India in the light of requirement of the TRIPS Agreement. He narrated the history of domestic protection of “appellations of origins” and “indications of source” that emerged out of concerns to protect geographical names of wines and spirits in Europe. It culminated in an international agreement, namely the Lisbon Agreement. The TRIPS agreement has finally set the common minimum binding standards on GIs, howsoever differential in its approach. He laid emphasis on the issue of divergence and variation in the scope of protection under TRIPS and raised some conceptual issues, especially in the context of its links to the dispute settlement under the WTO-DSU mechanism. He also examined the gaps in trans-border protection of GIs and emphasized that a multilaterally binding treaty which could provide enhanced protection to all GIs (protection as in case of wines and spirits) is important. On the issue of domestic protection of GIs in India, it is evident that the experience has been new. He stressed on issue of missing mandate for quality control under the GI law in India and clarified that TRIPS had little to offer. However, the experience has not been fully disappointing is all respects. Nevertheless, he emphasized that it should not pre-suppose that the both the international and domestic regime were full-proof in warding-off the evil of the trader based psyche downplaying the potential benefits that are expected out of the legal and policy framework on GIs. This would go a long way in ensuring sustainable livelihoods and well-being of producers of GIs.
Click here to view Presentation.
More details of the Seminar is available at: http://wtocentre.iift.ac.in/
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