"It is of great significance for China and the EU to sign an agreement on the protection and cooperation of geographical indications. For China, this is the inherent requirement of promoting China's high-quality development in the new era. It is the concrete embodiment of the construction of a powerful country with intellectual property rights. It fully demonstrates the firm determination of the Chinese government to expand opening up and protect intellectual property rights. It is conducive to the construction of a new development pattern with domestic circulation as the main body and domestic and international double circulation promoting each other. It is also conducive to promoting the expansion of intellectual property rights Opening up to the outside world is conducive to safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of domestic and foreign-funded enterprises. The State Intellectual Property Office of China will continue to strengthen the protection of geographical indications and make technical preparations for the follow-up implementation of the China EU agreement on protection and cooperation of geographical indications. " On September 14, after eight years of negotiation, the China EU agreement on geographical indications was officially signed. The person in charge of the intellectual property protection department of the State Intellectual Property Office of China explained the importance of signing the agreement for the protection of intellectual property rights.

The agreement includes 14 articles and seven appendixes, which mainly stipulate the rules for the protection of geographical indications and the mutual recognition list of geographical indications. According to the agreement, the geographical indications included in the agreement will enjoy a high level of protection and can use the official geographical indications of both parties. A total of 275 geographical indication products of both sides are included in the appendix of the agreement, involving wine, tea, agricultural products, food, etc. The protection will be carried out in two batches. The first batch of 100 mutually recognized geographical indications will be protected from the date of the agreement's entry into force; the second batch of 175 geographical indications will be protected within four years after the agreement's entry into force.

There are three main highlights of the agreement. One is the large number of protections. This is the first large-scale mutual recognition of each other's geographical indications between China and Europe, with a total of 550 (275 each), which are well-known geographical indications of both sides, such as Shaoxing wine, Lu'an Guapian, Anxi Tieguanyin, Helan east foot wine of China; champagne, Bavaria beer, Parma ham, margina mountain olive oil of Europe, etc. After the signing of the agreement, these geographical indications will benefit thousands of products and manufacturers.

Second, there are many kinds of protection. The geographical indications listed in the agreement by China not only involve liquor, tea, agricultural products, food, etc., but also involve rice paper, Sichuan brocade and other geographical indications with Chinese characteristics that represent Chinese traditional culture. Previously, the EU signed an agreement on geographical indications for foreign investors, which only involved agricultural products, food and wine. This is the first time that the EU has included such geographical indications in its agreement.

Third, high protection treatment. The geographical indications protected by the agreement can not only obtain high-level protection in the other party, but also use the official geographical indications of the other party, which is conducive to the effective market development of related products. This is the first time that the European Union allows foreign geographical indication holders to use their official geographical indications through the agreement.

Although China's geographical indication products are popular in the domestic market, their popularity and market share in Europe still have room for substantial improvement. The high-level treatment provided by the agreement will help China's relevant products to be recognized by EU consumers, further promote the export of relevant products to Europe, and provide legal protection for effectively preventing the counterfeiting and forgery of geographical indication products.
In fact, the State Intellectual Property Office of China has been actively promoting the unified identification of geographical indications, strengthening the protection of geographical indications, and constantly improving relevant policies and systems. In 2019, the State Intellectual Property Office of the people's Republic of China issued the measures for the protection of foreign geographical indication products, which improved the relevant procedures to facilitate foreign applicants to submit applications for the protection of geographical indication products; in April 2020, the measures for the administration of the use of special geographical indication (Trial Implementation) was issued to unify and standardize the use of special geographical indication products; and the provisions for the protection of geographical indication products was revised It will be included in the 2020 legislative plan, accelerate the improvement of relevant systems, carry out the construction of geographical indication protection demonstration areas, promote the pilot reform of the approval and use of special signs for geographical indication products, and further improve the level of geographical indication protection.

By the end of August 2020, China has approved 2385 protected products of geographical indications, including 61 foreign products, registered 5750 trademarks of geographical indications, and approved 9018 enterprises using special indications. (intellectual property report Liu Peng)