GI Tags In India: Have they benefited Indian products?

Sheela Mamidenna

GI Tags in India: Have they benefited Indian products?

 

Liberalisation of markets and the winds of change have metamorphosed intense debates on salubrious issues such as frameworks for trans-border marketing, tariff reductions, and protective and balanced shells for indigenous businesses, ensuring that human resources and their skills are utilised to the maximum. Bio-resource conservation offers the distant hope that the future world of markets will be more enriching contributing to a better quality of life for future generations. The race to capture ‘every kind of market’ makes it alluring to innovate and creatively captivate the consumer towards one’s products or services.

 

A consumer’s choice of products/services is influenced by a wide range of factors and the very notion of distinction or exclusivity associated with a particular product or service gets retained in the minds of the consumer for a longer time. To retain the uniqueness of such products and services from being duplicated, IPR tools, Trademarks, and Geographical Indicators (GI) help protect the interest of the producers as well as the buyers.

Apart from effective enforcement of the rights in the relevant markets (domestic and export), the success of a GI is contingent, in a large measure, upon appropriate marketing and promotion of the product—tasks that are not only resource-intensive but also challenging to execute for many stakeholders in a developing country like India. It is trickier to ensure that a fair share of the benefits accruing from the GI status of a product reaches the actual producers/artisans downstream in the supply chain unless an appropriate institutional mechanism is set in place towards that end.

 

Trans-national exports and imports, primarily play an important role in the transfer of limited finished and unfinished goods, specific know-how and scarce resources, from one country to another, Countries are inherently diverse and distinct concerning culture and art, natural resources and skilled labour. Goods and products, even of the same category, may share major differences between them, depending on their geographical origin and ability. Thus, it is only natural to protect the geographical identity of a product, to preserve and safeguard its original quality and speciality from getting diluted. This is beneficial for third-world countries or poorer economies where manufacturing happens in rural areas and producers need more marketing muscle to invest in branding.

For instance, the granting of a GI tag to Madurai Jasmine (malli) by the Registrar of Geographical Indications on Jan 11, 2013. The cultivators of Madurai had for many years contended that the flower was adulterated when exported to other countries, resulting in the loss of fragrance for which it is famous. As a result, its demand started falling. With the granting of the GI tag, the cultivators now stand a fair chance to appeal in the court of law.

 

Some unique GI-tagged products

Some products famous in the world with the GI tag include Champagne, Feta cheese, tequila, Ceylon tea, Antigua (Guatemalan) coffee, and Kalamata olive. The tag is given to authorised users in a certain country, who can use it exclusively, and no unauthorised person is permitted to use the same. But there’s no foolproof method developed yet that ensures 100% protection to a particular GI tag. Picture this: It has been estimated by the International Trade Centre that every year, about 125% more coffee bags are labelled and exported as ‘Antigua’ than those truly produced in Guatemala!

 

What is in a name?

Now picture this scenario: Until recently British winemakers have been in a dilemma to find a name for “English sparkling wine” which is recognisable across the world as ‘prosecco’. However, they have been granted protected regional status in 2016. A New York bar owner provided them the much-needed relief by coining ‘British Fizz’ to the sparkling wine he served in his menu. The United Kingdom Vineyard Association is now aiming to give it an official tag by applying for a protected GI status. Though many are sceptical that consumers may mistake it for British wine which is cheaper and made from imported grapes, wine producers and winemakers say this is just the right way to make people aware of the differences between ‘English sparkling wine’ and ‘British wine’ with the distinction lying in the special grapes used in its production. British wine production has risen from 3 million bottles in 2011 to 5 million and is expected to reach 10 million by 2020. China, Canada and the US are its major customers.

It remains to be seen if the ‘Fizz’ will catch on like ‘Champagne’!

 

What is a GI Tag?

Geographical Indication Tag, or a GI Tag, is a government-certified tag, encompassing and protecting the rights of reputed agricultural, natural and manufactured goods from a specific geographical location in countries. For example, a trader selling Darjeeling Tea bags from the city of London in Europe, to show beyond doubt that the origin of the manufactured Darjeeling Tea bags is from Darjeeling, will print/attach a GI Tag on his product to secure the trust of the customer about the authenticity of his product. Unmistakably, a GI Tag will be awarded to original, authentic and specific products, following a thorough inspection of the validity of claims for intellectual rights.

 

GI Tag is a type of intellectual right. It is defined under Article 22(1) of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement as: “Indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a member, or a region or a locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographic origin.”

 

GI Tags in India

As a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), India, enacted the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999 which has come into force with effect from 15th September 2003. So far, as many as 236 products from different parts of Indian states have secured GI Tags and 270 more GI Tags are in the process of getting certified. Handicrafts like Kashmiri Walnut Wood Carving, specific agricultural goods like Nagpuri Oranges, naturally occurring resources like Makrana Marble from Rajasthan, manufactured goods like Coimbatore Wet Grinder and food specialities like Hyderabadi Haleem have been certified as an assurance of quality and distinctiveness.

 

Rights of a GI Tag in India

With every GI Tag, a standard or a process of production is also certified, prescribing a product to adhere to standards set out in the code of practice for the GI. Nevertheless, the holder cannot limit other individuals, in the protected geographical location, to produce or replicate goods using the same technique. A GI is ascertained as a product with a logo, the logo which inadvertently symbolises all the standards set out in the code of practice. For example, the Odisha Pattachitra GI acquisition set the stage for global recognition of the art and all its processes. A GI Tag is deemed to be valid unless a rare situation of a cancelling registration arises. As the nature of any other registered collective or a certification mark, a GI holds true for 10 years after which a re-registration process needs to be initiated. In case of disputes, the rights of GI, like all intellectual property rights, are addressed by the court of law.

 

Can a GI impact quality and profits?

A lot of times, artisans, farmers and craftsmen lose out on being on the receiving end of profits, for selling their fruits of labour, due to various reasons. Middlemen, being one factor, another huge factor lies in the new age's ability to reproduce/replicate/create imitative versions of finished artisan goods in a faster, cheaper way. Money-minded consumers, often lack the nuance of discovering the differences between authentic and duplicate versions, creating cash flow towards such duplicating businessmen. In the case of Madurai jasmine (Madurai malli), a type of strong scented flower, which is native to a specific location, Madurai in the Tamil Nadu region, dates back to the 5th Century B.C with its mention in Tamil Literature since the Sangam age. It is an expensive flower bud which bids almost Rs. 2000 a kg.

Madurai malli which is often exported outside India, for its strong, long-lasting fragrance is attributed to a relatively thicker petiole and thick petals that the flower possesses compared to other jasmine family flowers. The flower also has a greater shelf life, thus proving to be a great commodity for export by flower weavers and exporters. Dr Uma Kannan, a key member of INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage), in her book, ‘Madurai Malligai’ celebrates jasmine and its growers around the temple town. She says, “that malli is as synonymous with Madurai as the Meenakshi Temple, that malli is not just a flower but an intrinsic part of the city’s ethos”. She continues to say that the only flight from Chennai to Madurai was named ‘Malli flight’ after this scented exotic flower.

Not just for the temple town, but internationally too, the scent of this particular jasmine is opted to enhance perfumes and cosmetics. Dior, an international range of perfumes, keeps jasmine at the centre of all their creations. The nose of Dior, Francois Demachy, has designed a unique jasmine fragrance keeping in mind Madurai and its roots. He links the unique, strong scent to the soils of India!

With an opportunistic price point and its significance in the hearts of the consumers, many sellers began selling a mix-up of inferior versions of other jasmines as Madurai malli. These mix-ups, definitely couldn’t retain neither the quality nor the ability to last long, losing the market nationally and globally.

By the Registrar of Geographical Indications on January 11, 2013, Madurai malli was certified with a GI tag, serving as a remedy to curb false claims and fake Madurai malli distribution in the market. Farmers, flower weavers and exporters, thus found new hope not just for the commercial face of malli but also restored their pride for everything that the jasmine embodies in the temple town of Tamil Nadu- their work, their way of worship and their way of life.

 

Though much has been written about and scores of products being given the distinction and exclusivity that sets them apart from the ordinary, Indian farmers are yet to reap those exclusive benefits as their counterparts in developed economies. If lack of awareness, and failure on the part of the government to educate the farmers regarding the benefits of GI are some of the apathetic systemic issues, Article 23 of the WTO-administered TRIPS agreement makes it blatantly clear, that only some products like wines and spirits get exclusive protection than those that come under Article 22. Though India, Switzerland and Pakistan have raised their concerns regarding Article 22 of the 1994 TRIPS Agreement, the status quo continues.

Reference sites
https://www.thedollarbusiness.com/magazine/geographical-indication-tags---are-gi-tags-helping-india-s-exports-/45759

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 227896689_Prospects_and_Challenges_of_Geographical_Indications_in_India