Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
the European Union negotiated bilateral trade in wine agreements with Bul-
garia, Hungary and Romania, which included provisions dealing with protec-
tion for GIs and traditional expressions. In 1994 the EU negotiated an
agreement with Australia which included the phasing out of European wine
names used by Australian wine makers that had entered into generic use. The
Agreement also provided for mutual recognition of oenological practices of
each Party and improved European market access conditions for Australian
products by removing a number of technical barriers to trade between both
Parties.
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In 1997 the EU and Mexico agreed on a mutual recognition and protection of
designations for spirits (including wine spirit). Under this agreement, condi-
tions were prescribed for the use of protected EU and Mexican names.
In October 1999 the EU entered into a free trade agreement with South Africa
which included the obligation for South Africa to phase out the use of the terms
'Oporto' or 'Porto' and 'Sherry' or 'Jerez' and the so-called 'traditional expres-
sions' for wines such as 'regional wines' or 'vin de pays'.
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The Bangui Agreement of 1977 relating to the creation of the African
Intellectual Property Organization should be mentioned. It includes regional
protection for different categories of intellectual property rights including
appellations of origin.
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In the last decade it has also become a practice to incorporate provisions for the
protection of specific GIs in some free trade agreements, such as the case of the
North America Free Trade Agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico
(1992), the free trade agreement between Mexico and Chile (1998) and the free
trade agreement between the US and Jordan (2009).
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Regional and bilateral agreements in force which provide protection to GIs
have been notified to the Council for TRIPS, according to Art 4(d) of the
TRIPS Agreement. A significant feature of these bilateral agreements is that
the sorts of intellectual property provisions which they include often provide for
a higher level of protection than that which is required by TRIPS.
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