This chapter explores the source of the specificity of origin products, and the rationality and rationales of the management and regulation of their production and marketing.

This chapter explains the concepts underlying the legal approach to geographical indications (GIs) and their historical roots, and explores the different legal tools that can be used in dealing with intellectual property rights (IPRs) attached to GIs. Finally, the evolution and nature of existing international legal frameworks for GIs are analysed to draw out the current points of conflict concerning their use and protection.

This chapter sets out to widen the debate on geographical indications (GIs), situating protection policies in the EU in the broader context of the public policies with which they are more or less directly involved. First, after presenting the historical and geographical justifications behind GI protection policies, it will be seen that they relate to various wider public policies (market, agricultural, and rural development policies), with which they may be consistent or contradictory. Lastly, the chapter looks at the impact that GI protection policies may have so as to demonstrate the need for converging justifications in the future.

Summary Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are an important issue in the negotiations between the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently underway. However, Geographical Indications (GIs) are one of the most disputed topics because, for decades, the US and the EU have each led one of two seemingly irreconcilable camps on how to address the protection of GIs at the international level. Agreeing on GIs protection in international trade raises important issues related to four dimensions of the GI system, which are likely to become ever more relevant as the TTIP negotiations proceed: i) legal and institutional protection; ii) domestic and international trade; iii) rural/local development and sustainability; and iv) consumers, quality and food safety. Although important, GIs represent only one of the many chapters of the TTIP, and it is in the nature of such agreements that the final text will be the outcome of numerous compromises. To date, the details of the negotiations in the public domain are scant and only in the next few months will we discover whether the protection of GIs in TTIP is a mission possible or will remain an illusory hope.

Enjeux internationaux et institutionnels des signes de qualité et d'origine Une décision de l'organe de règlement des différends de l'OMC. Quels impacts pour la protection internationale des indications géographiques ? Which protection for foreign geographical indications in Europe? Issues raised by the decision of the WTO dispute settlement body