India is a vast country with
immensely rich traditions. It is innate to the soul of India that its folks
have been utilizing the Earth to make life of fellow folks useful. In the
process, Indians have truly developed their skill so much that it had taken a
form of a full-fledged industry which was appreciated by the world over.
However with the modernization knocking the door and traditional way of
production start replacing by the machine, the life of millions of such folks
reached to a cross-road.
The human hands
can’t match the pace of the machine.
At
the same time, this tradition remained their identity for centuries, how can
they just let it go?
Then came the realization of the
limitation of the machine and its monotonous effect, not to talk of the
environmental deterioration. The people at different corner of the world once
again found themselves appreciating the folks skill and folks traditions. But
then the dark side of the human greediness came. People knowing well the appreciation
of the different crafts start selling their own lower grade products under the
disguise. This is the precise reason why many times the sale of Darjeeling Tea
registered more than its actual production.
This spoofing is a double-edged
sword. On the one hand, it snatched the ethical right of the people of
different geography from their right of livelihood and on the other hand, it
also brings a sense of the disappointment among its connoisseurs for their
inability to appreciate the original product as they have experienced the
spoofed product.
The Uruguay round of WTO was the
harbinger of bringing a mechanism world over to prevent such anomaly in the
market.
As per TRIPS Agreement 1994, “Geographical
indications are, for the purposes of this Agreement, indications which identify
a good as originating in the territory of a Member, or a region or locality in
that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of
the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin”
The GI Act contains a system of
registration. Registration is prima facie evidence of validity. While
the initial registration is for a period of ten years, it may subsequently be
renewed. A GI may be registered under more than one class of goods.
Commensurate
with the TRIPS Agreement, the Government of India has drafted their own GI Act:
The Geographical
Indications of Goods
(Registration and Protection) Act (GI Act), 2003
How Geographical Indications product are registered in India
(This section owe a lot to a paper published by Mr Kasturi, Fellow, Center for WTO titled 'Social Economic Impication of GI' )
Section 11(2) of the GI Act
specifies the documentation requirements for applying for a GI in India.
Section 32(1) of the GI Rules replicates these provisions and in addition stipulates
a few more documentation requirements that include, among other things, the
following:
• A statement as to how the GI
serves to designate the goods as originating from the concerned geographical
territory in respect of specific quality, reputation or other characteristics
that are due exclusively or essentially to the geographical environment, with
its inherent natural and human factors; and the production, processing or
preparation of which takes place in such geographical location;
• The geographical map of the
territory concerned;
• The particulars regarding the
appearance of the GI as to whether it is comprised of the words or figurative
elements or both;
• An affidavit as to how the
applicant claims to represent the interest of the association of persons or
producers or any organization or authority established by or under any law;
• The standards benchmark for the
use of the GI or the industry standard as regards the production, exploitation,
making or manufacture of the goods having specific quality, reputation, or
other characteristic of such goods that is essentially attributable to its
geographical origin with the detailed description of the human creativity
involved, if any, or other characteristic from the definite geographical
territory;
• The particulars of the
mechanism to ensure that the standards, quality, integrity and consistency or
other special characteristic in respect of the goods to which the GI relates,
which are maintained by the producers, makers or manufacturers of the goods, as
the case may be;
• The particulars of special
human skill involved or the uniqueness of the geographical environment or other
inherent characteristics associated with the GI to which the application
relates;
• The particulars of the
inspection structure, if any, to regulate the use of the GI in respect of the
goods for which application is made in the definite territory, region or
locality mentioned in the application.
Upon receipt of an application, it is
scrutinized by the examiners and in case any deficiencies are found, a notice
is sent to the applicant to rectify them. After rectification, the applicant is
required to send her reply within one month from the date of receipt of the
notice. The next stage is the constitution of a Consultative Group of technical experts, chaired by
the Registrar, to ascertain the correctness or otherwise of the particulars
furnished in the application. Subsequent to examination, the Registrar may
refuse the application altogether or may accept it either absolutely or subject
to certain conditions, modifications, etc. Accordingly, on the basis of the comments
provided by the Consultative Group, an Examination Report is issued by the
Registrar.
Compliance, if any, is to be done within two months from the date of
communication of the Examination Report to the applicant.
Once the objections raised
in the Examination Report are satisfactorily responded to by the applicant, and
the application is accordingly accepted by the GI Registry, it is advertized in
the GI Journal, which is a bi‐monthly, bi‐lingual
(English and Hindi33) statutory publication. Upon advertisement, any person
may, within a specified time period (generally 3 months, but if needed 4
months), oppose the application in writing. If the application passes through
the specified time period unopposed, or in the event of an opposition,if it is
decided in favour of the applicant, the Registrar is required to register the concerned
GI as well as the authorized users and include the particulars in the GI Register.34
Upon registration of a GI, the Registrar is required to issue each to the applicant
and the authorized users a certificate sealed with the seal of the GI Registry.
Notably, the date of filing of the application is
deemed to be the date of registration.
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