The benefits of GI registration

Geographical Indication (GI) is the term used for a sign which identifies a product as originating from a specific geographical area and possessing a given quality, reputation or other characteristic attributable to that geographical origin.

Different levels of GI registration can be applied for. The top level of GI requires that every stage of the preparation, production and processing process takes place in the specific region.  A lower level of GI only requires that at least one of the stages of preparation, production or processing takes place in the region.

GIs guarantee quality and identify source but, unlike regular registered trade marks, GIs identify goods as coming from a place, as opposed to from a particular producer.

Particularly famous registered GIs are Champagne (for the French sparkling wine), Roquefort (for the French blue cheese), Prosecco (for the Italian sparkling wine) and Kalamata (for the Greek olives).

However, GI protection is not just available for the names of what we might perceive as luxury products from exotic locations.  For example, regional products such as Jersey Royal potatoes, Welsh lamb and Cornish pasties enjoy registered GI status in Great Britain and the EU.

GIs can only be registered for products, never for services.

Trade marks are usually fanciful or arbitrary signs. By contrast, GIs are generally predetermined by the name of the geographical area involved. Exceptions are Cava (for the Spanish sparkling wine) and Feta (for the Greek cheese), neither of which are the names of geographical locations.

Benefits of obtaining GI registration

GIs are credited with safeguarding the reputation of regional food and drink, promoting agricultural activity, helping producers obtain premium prices for genuine products, and protecting consumers from being misled by non-genuine products.

Registered GIs enable their owners to stop others from using a sign identical or confusingly similar to the GI without permission and from benefitting from its reputation.  A GI can form the basis of an opposition against an application to register a trade mark which is similar. For example, an application to register Nosecco as a UK trade mark for wines was successfully opposed by the owners of the registered GI of PROSECCO.

Extending the benefits of GI status further still, the use of words which, while not actually names registered as GIs, nonetheless “evoke” a GI has been found to infringe a GI.  For example, a German court held that the use of the word GLEN (a word meaning valley often used in connection with Scotch whisky) on a German whisky (without any use of the word Scotch) nonetheless evoked Scotch whisky and therefore infringed the EU-wide GI for Scotch Whisky.

It has also been held that use of figurative signs, evoking the geographical area with which an EU-wide GI is associated, may infringe that GI.

In addition, it has been decided that the use by a third party of a name protected by an EU-wide GI on goods different from the goods for which the GI is protected may still infringe the GI.

While GI status can only be obtained for products, it has nonetheless been held that the evocation of a GI, in relation to a service, can nonetheless infringe an EU-wide GI.

Changes introduced to EU GI regulations in May 2024 mean that producers of prepacked food products containing ingredients, whose names are protected by EU-wide GIs, can only use the GIs in the name of the prepacked food, or in advertising material, if the Gi-protected ingredient is used in sufficient quantities to confer an essential characteristic on the prepacked food product concerned.  The new EU regulations also require that, where this qualifying condition is met, the exact percentage of the GI-protected ingredient be stated on the label of the prepacked food product.

How to obtain a GI registration

EU-wide and Great Britain GI protection needs to be applied for on behalf of a group of producers who make the product. However, if only one producer makes the product, then GI protection can be applied for by that sole producer.

Like registered trade marks, GI protection needs to be applied for on a territory-by-territory basis.  However, an exception to that is that a registration on the EU Register of GIs confers protection in all EU member states.  Since Brexit, Northern Ireland remains subject to the EU Register of GIs, not the Great Britain register of GIs. So, to protect a GI throughout the UK, it is necessary to register it separately on both the EU and Great Britain Registers of GIs.

The usual route is for the party with the right to use the GI to register it as a GI in its home territory. Then it applies to register it as a GI in other territories in which it plans to sell the product.

Indeed, a party applying from outside the UK for GI protection in Great Britain (or applying from outside the EU for EU-wide GI protection) must file evidence that the product for which GI status is sought has GI status in its home country.

Applications for Great Britain and EU-wide GI protection must contain a full specification for the product concerned which needs to:

• set out the ingredients and main physical and chemical characteristics showing the product’s specific character;
• define the geographical area concerned;
• explain the link between the product and the geographical area;
• include details of the measures used to ensure proof of origin and traceability;
• detail the method of production (including raw materials and, where applicable, details of animal feed); and
• include details of packaging if packaging must take place in the defined geographical area.

The application must demonstrate that the sign identifies a product as originating from a specific geographical area.  An application filed in 2021 to register Dundee Cake as a GI in Great Britain was rejected on the basis that the name was generic.

The EU authorities state that they will examine, and make a decision on, applications within six months of filing but examination can take longer in Great Britain. For example, at the time of writing, applications filed in 2023 for GI status in Great Britain for each of Pembrokeshire Rock Oysters and Pembrokeshire Native Oysters remain under consideration.

Once the EU or UK authorities confirm that the application for GI status meets the requirements, they publish details.  Third parties have three months from the date of publication to oppose. If no oppositions are filed during the relevant period, the GI name is entered onto the Register of GIs to which the application was made.

No less than 17 oppositions were filed against the application filed by a group of Cypriot producers to register HALLOUMI as an EU-wide GI for cheese but, despite these, the GI was eventually granted.

GI registrations never need to be renewed but can be cancelled as a result of non use over seven consecutive years.

Where changes are made to the production process of a GI protected product, an updated version of the specification filed with the original GI application needs to be placed on the GI register. Care should be taken to ensure that all products bearing the protected GI conform to the specification. In 2024, the owners of the GI for Olive Oil from the Valencia region applied to surrender their own EU-wide GI registration because of lack of similarity between the various olive oils produced in the region.

Types of products for which GI protection may be obtained

Currently it is only possible to apply to register GIs in Great Britain or at EU-wide level for food and drink products.  However, with effect from December 2025, it will be possible to apply for EU-wide GI protection for the names of craft or industrial products. At the time of writing, the relevant authorities have not announced any plans to offer equivalent GI protection for craft or industrial products in Great Britain.

Have you considered whether any of your products qualify for GI registration?

David Birchall is a member of Marques Geographical Indications Team.