Current Situation and Potential Development of Geographical Indications in Europe

For decades European governments, especially those in the Mediterranean area, have paid a great attention on issues related to the rural culture and traditions. They have tried to develop and safeguard traditional or typical products from unfair competition and imitations, at national and international levels. However, although traditional products have strong links with the European food culture, they do not sometimes reach commercial success, either at rural and urban areas, despite their good reputation. Commercial success depends, among a great number of factors, on product characteristics, market penetration, production methods, supply chain governance and the image and strength of the area of origin (Sylvander and Barjolle, 2000). This chapter describes the current situation and potential development, in Europe, of Geographical Indications (GIs), in all the category on which they are present on the market. Actually we will distinguish GIs between two main categories: “origin products” (OP), which are not necessarily protected (as PDO-PGI are), but are potential GIs, and, second, the PDO-PGI. In the first one, you can have various products, according to the country : in Italy, you have the “typical or traditional products”, in France the “farmhouse products”, in Northern Europe “organic products”, ecc. All of these do not have proper labels but they get recognition of their origin. In this chapter the name of GI will be used instead and, in order to show the big diversity of element that characterize the GIs world, a number of connected issues are analysed which cover consumers reactions towards GIs, their supply chain and the role of the geographic areas in determining their value. It ends up with some final considerations.