Level of GI protection requested by the EU

The EU in its original request to Australia asked that EU GI names be protected against:

1. any direct or indirect commercial use of a GI name:
   1. for comparable products, or
   2. in so far as such use exploits the reputation of the GI, including when that product is used as an ingredient;
2. any misuse, imitation or evocation, even if the true origin of the product is indicated or if the protected name is translated, transcribed, transliterated or accompanied by an expression such as "style", "type", "method", "as produced in", "imitation", "flavour", "like" or similar, including when those products are used as an ingredient;
3. any other false or misleading indication as to the origin, nature or essential qualities of the product, on the inner or outer packaging, advertising material or documents relating to the product concerned, and the packing of the product in a container liable to convey a false impression as to its origin, including when those products are used as an ingredient;
4. any other practice liable to mislead the consumer as to the true origin of the product.

If you would like more information on what the EU requested from Australia on GIs, you can find the full EU proposal on intellectual property issues on the European Commission website.  We note that through the negotiations some of these issues have evolved since the EU’s initial request.

• Foodstuffs
• Spirits

List of EU GIs: Foodstuffs

Download Word document version: List of EU GIs: Foodstuffs [DOCX 55 KB]

The list of foodstuff names the EU has asked Australia to protect as GIs is set out below.

For greater clarity, the EU has confirmed examples of where the protection it is seeking would not extend to the use of parts of EU GI names. This is identified in the list below by text that has been underlined. For example, for the EU GI "Camembert de Normandie", protection is not sought for the name "camembert" when used by itself. In the EU, use of underlined names is permitted, as long as they are not used in a way that may deceive or mislead consumers as to the true origin or quality of the product.

The attachments next to each EU GI were provided by the EU and explain more about each GI. You can also search EU GI databases for the most up-to-date information.

List of EU GIs: Spirits

Download Word document version: List of EU GIs: Spirits [DOCX 65 KB]

The list of spirit GI names the EU wants Australia to protect as GIs is set out below.

For greater clarity, the EU has confirmed examples of where the protection it is seeking would not extend to the use of parts of EU GI names. These are:

In the EU, use of these spirit drink categories is permitted as long as they are not used in a way that may deceive or mislead consumers as to the true origin or quality of the product.

The attachments next to each EU GI were provided by the EU and explain more about each GI. You can also search EU GI databases for the most up-to-date information.