Geographical Indications and Transatlantic Trade Negotiations: Different US and EU Perspectives

Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are an important issue in the negotiations between the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently underway. However, Geographical Indications (GIs) are one of the most disputed topics because, for decades, the US and the EU have each led one of two seemingly irreconcilable camps on how to address the protection of GIs at the international level. Agreeing on GIs protection in international trade raises important issues related to four dimensions of the GI system, which are likely to become ever more relevant as the TTIP negotiations proceed: i) legal and institutional protection; ii) domestic and international trade; iii) rural/local development and sustainability; and iv) consumers, quality and food safety. Although important, GIs represent only one of the many chapters of the TTIP, and it is in the nature of such agreements that the final text will be the outcome of numerous compromises. To date, the details of the negotiations in the public domain are scant and only in the next few months we discover whether the protection of GIs in TTIP is a mission possible or will remain an illusory hope.