DEFENDING QUALITY PDO PRODUCTS OF LOCAL SOCIETIES IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS

DEFENDING QUALITY PDO PRODUCTS OF LOCAL SOCIETIES IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS

George Emmanouil*

The first International Trade Agreement for the Products Designation of Origin was held in Paris in 1883 and the next one in Madrid in 1891 between 31 countries. The countries with a history  in culture such as those of S. Europe,  Egypt, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Kenya, Jamaica, China, Vietnam, participate in international agreements to support the protection of PDOs, while the new American countries and, in general, Anglo-Saxon countries are not involved, due to private trademarks that dominating in those areas. This is the mainly the reason why the US, Canada, Australia reject PDO products in the WTO (World Trade Organization) and in the current negotiations of the international trade agreements CETA, TTIP, etc.

The Stresa, Italy international trade agreement followed in 1951 and the Lisbon one in 1958, as modified in Geneva Act in 2015, by which it is prohibited the circulation of counterfeit products (kind, style)

The European Union has allowed the PDOs protection, by Reg. 2081/1992. In 1999,  US and Australia appealed to the World Trade Organization against the EU, mainly claiming that the EU discriminates against other countries' trademarks / brand names. The EU then and in order to be compatible with the WTO legislation (Articles 3.1, 22, 23, 24, TRIPS) then amended its legislation with Regulation 510 / 2016 and with the Final Reg. 1151/ 2012, prohibiting as such products imitation and  allowing  equal treatment and registration of PDO products and products of third countries.