The list of geographical indications protected under the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, which affords protection to GIs registered in the European Union or in Japan also in case of conflict between GIs and trademarks, has been extended to include 28 more agri-food products.

The European Commission announced this week that 28 geographical indications for each side have been added to the list of geographical indications protected under the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (“EU-Japan trade agreement” in the following) that came into force on 1 February 2019, creating a free trade zone with 653 million people and close to a third of the world’s GDP.

The agreement provides, inter alia, for mutual recognition of a certain number of geographical indications for agri-food products that are already protected in Japan or in the European Union. 

Upon its entry into force, the agreement granted automatic protection in Japan to over 200 GIs of the European Union; over the following two years the list of Japanese and European Union GIs falling under the protection of the agreement has been extended in two phases first to 56 and now to a further 28 products.

Under the agreement, protection for GIs and PDOs extends to conflicts with later trademarks. The Japanese Intellectual Property Office will refuse trademark applications conflicting with GIs and PDOs registered in the EU and recognised in Japan under the EU-Japan trade agreement. Co-existence rules are provided for trademarks filed in Japan before the entry into force of the new agreement.

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