The EU shares knowledge and experience on Geographical Indications with Mongolia

Society
unurzul@montsame.mn
2021-11-12 16:57:41

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. The European Union provided training and shared knowledge on geographical indications to Mongolia. The protection of local products’ names as geographical indications can provide new economic opportunities and support rural development.


“Mongolia has several traditional agricultural products with distinguished quality linked to its geographical area of origin, such as the geographical indication (GI) “Увс чацаргана / Uvs chatsargana” (“Uvs Seabucktorn”). Geographical indications also make a valuable contribution to sustainable rural development as they reflect a strong association between a product and its territorial origin” - said Ms Axelle Nicaise, Ambassador of the European Union to Mongolia.


Faced with globalisation and mass production, local producers have to adapt to preserve their national heritage and prevent the usurpation of their products’ names and reputations. GIs guarantee authenticity to consumers, differentiate these products on the market and this leads to higher-value sales and exports. They also deliver social and economic benefits as they link valuable products as well as jobs to the territory, connect consumers and producers, and promote traditional production methods, thus contributing to the preservation of a living cultural and gastronomic heritage and ensuring a sustainable livelihood for many primary producers. The protection of GIs can therefore be of great importance to rural development in regions with few, if any, economic alternatives to the production of the GIs. Typically, such regions are more remote and often suffer from a lack of economic development opportunities, like mountain areas.


The EU organised a two half-day virtual TAIEX workshop to provide training on the European Union (EU) policy on GIs to Mongolian officials from the Intellectual Property Office of Mongolia, law enforcement bodies, competent ministries, the private sector and interested stakeholders. TAIEX experts from France, Hungary and Italy shared knowledge and best practices about the role of geographical indications in rural development and in creating marketing opportunities for agricultural products of distinguished quality and good reputation. The presentations focused on the EU legislative framework, the GI application and registration procedures, the role of producers group, etc. The presentations also included an overview on control and enforcement of GI rights.


The workshop was organised by the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument of the European Commission (TAIEX) and funded by the Partnership Instrument (PI).


About TAIEX - Partnership Instrument (TAIEX PI): TAIEX provides short-term, peer-to-peer assistance to government administrations to support them in the approximation, application and enforcement of the EU acquis, to share EU best practices, and to help implement bilateral/regional agreements. Given its successful implementation in the Neighbourhood and Enlargement area, European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) and the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) have decided to extend TAIEX to other countries, with funding from the Partnership Instrument

 

Source: EU Delegation to Mongolia