UNCTAD supported the 2015 Symposium on Geographical Indications organized by the World Trade Point Federation and Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce, at the Palais des Nations, on 3 July 2015.
Geographical indications have great significance to promote the sustainable development of the small and medium sized enterprises, said Mr. Bruno Masier, President of the World Trade Point Federation.
Mr. Wang Hongcun, Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce introduced the registration, distribution and protection of geographical indications products in Beijing China, and welcomed the geographical indications products from other countries.
Beijing can provide preferential treatment for enterprises. Mr. Wang has also extended invitation to 2016 China Beijing International Fair for Trade in Service (CIFTIS) and the Geographical Indications Meeting, to jointly promote the development of world geographical indications industry.
Mr. Wolf Meier-Ewert, WTO, said TRIPS represents the current consensus on minimum protection standards for GIs and Trademarks and pointed out on-going discussions of GI extension for higher levels of protection for all GIs.
Mr. Stefano Inama, UNCTAD, introduced the critical impacts of geographical indications on promoting economic and trade development and shared some successful examples from African countries.
Ms. Marie Paule Rizo, WIPO referred to the Lisbon Agreement and the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement adopted in May 2015 as a single instrument covering AOs (appellation of origin) and GIs.
Mr. Massimo Vittori, OriGIn, introduced the current international development situation of geographical indications protection respectively.
Mr. Jean Luc Passuello, Confrererie des Amateurs du Bleu de Gex, a geographical denomination product, presented the production and distribution process of cheese industry in France to encourage local gastronomy.
Ms. Elodie Marafico, Republic and Canton of Geneva, introduced the Label Geneva Region-Terre d'Avenir (GRTA) based on the principles of quality, proximity, traceability and fairness.
Mr. Tan Chenghai, Beijing International Economic and Trade Development Association introduced the current development status of Chinese geographical indications products, relevant policies of importing global geographical indications products and suggested to stimulate more cross-border electronic commerce.
Ms. Carolina Quintana, UNCTAD, introduced the opportunities for extending GIs to non-food sectors, such as pottery, art crafts, which are based on traditional knowledge and production methods.
Other GIs examples followed from Murcia Spain, Beijing Niulanshan Distillery and DistributionElite.
China's geographical indications protection and registration has been developing rapidly. In 2014, registration numbers reached 4576, with an increase of 42.5% over 2013; in the geographical indications product categories, the top three is the fruit category (1052), vegetables (674), grain and oil (519), accounting for 49.1% of the total number of geographical indications in China. Beijing has 22 geographical indications products.
The Beijing delegation also visited the headquarters of the World Intellectual Property Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and development and reached preliminary understanding on relevant work including developing Madrid trademark registration and promoting creative industry in Beijing business field, and conducting international trade training.
