WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/259
31 May 2001
(01-2713)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English
COMMUNICATION FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
AND THEIR MEMBER STATES
The following communication, dated 26 April 2001, has been received from the
European Communities and their member States with the request that it be circulated to Members.
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ESTABLISHMENT OF A MULTILATERAL SYSTEM OF NOTIFICATION AND REGISTRATION OF
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 23.4 OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT
COMPARATIVE TABLE OF THE MAIN PROPOSALS SUBMITTED TO DATE
As part of the mandated negotiations of the TRIPS Council under Article 23.4, several
delegations have submitted communications1 relating to the establishment of a multilateral system of
notification and registration to facilitate the protection of geographical indications.
At recent TRIPS Council meetings, in November 2000 and April 2001, many delegations
expressed the view that effective progress in the negotiations on the establishment of a multilateral
notification and registration system was necessary.
For that purpose, the EC has prepared the attached document that allows for an objective
comparison of the main proposals2 submitted to the Council to date. As announced at the April
meeting of the TRIPS Council, the comparative table is submitted with a view to facilitating further
discussions and is not intended to interpret or comment on any of the proposals referred to hereafter.
                                                     
1 IP/C/W/107, Communication from the European Communities and their Member States;
IP/C/W/133, Communication from Japan and the United States;  IP/C/W/133/Rev.1, Communication from
Canada, Chile, Japan and the United States (“joint proposal”);  IP/C/W/189 Communication from New Zealand;IP/C/W/107/Rev.1, Communication from the European Communities and their Member States;  IP/C/W/234,Communication from Hungary;  and IP/C/W/255, Communication from Hungary.
2 See IP/C/W/107/Rev.1, IP/C/W/133/Rev.1 and IP/C/W/255.IP/C/W/259
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MULTILATERAL SYSTEM FOR
NOTIFICATION AND REGISTRATION OF
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
ESTABLISHED UNDER ARTICLE 23.4 OF
THE TRIPS AGREEMENTESTABLISHMENT OF A MULTILATERAL
SYSTEM OF NOTIFICATION AND
REGISTRATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL
INDICATIONSPROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE
REVISED PROPOSAL BY THE EUROPEAN
COMMUNITIES AND THEIR MEMBER
STATES
A. MEMBERS' PARTICIPATION IN THE
MULTILATERAL SYSTEM
1. All Members may participate in the
multilateral system of notification and registrationby making a voluntary declaration to the
Secretariat.
2. Having made such a declaration, Members
shall apply the operating rules of the multilateralsystem of notification and registration.
3. The participation or non-participation of
Members in the multilateral system of notification
and registration shall be without prejudice to theirrights and obligations under section 3 of Part II of
the TRIPS Agreement, unless otherwise foreseen
in this multilateral system.IP/C/W/259
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1. Notification B. NOTIFICATION AND PUBLICATION OF
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
WTO Members wishing to participate in
the system may submit to the Secretariat a list of
domestic geographical indications for covered
products recognized as eligible for protection
under their national legislation, indicating for each
indication the date, if any, on which protection willexpire.1. A participating Member shall notify,
without delay, the Secretariat its declaration of
participation in the system.
2. It shall notify all geographical indications
which identify goods as originating in its territory,
corresponding to the definition in Article 22,paragraph 1 of the TRIPS Agreement.
1The format for submissions shall be
established through negotiations or, if the WTO
Members so agree, by the Secretariat.
In the interests of transparency and to ease
use of the register by other WTO Members
participating in other multilateral agreements for
the protection of geographical indications, those
WTO Members participating in such agreementsmust indicate the other multilateral agreements
under which each of the notified geographical
indications is protected.3. Notification to the Secretariat shall be
accompanied by copies of national legislative,
administrative or judicial decisions and, if
necessary, bilateral, regional or multilateral
agreements indicating the date on which eachgeographical indication first received protection in
the country of origin.  Any time-limit on that
protection and the type of product in question, as
well as prima facie evidence of the geographical
indication's conformity with the provisions of theAgreement, should also be provided.IP/C/W/259
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1. Notification (cont'd) B. NOTIFICATION AND PUBLICATION OF
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS (cont'd)
Subsequent notifications shall include only
additional domestic geographical indications
eligible for protection under a WTO Member's
national legislation and any previously notified
geographical indication no longer eligible for such
protection.4. Each participating Member may provide
any other information it considers useful for the
Agreement's implementation and for national
application of the prohibition on the use of
geographical indications for non-originating
products.
To minimize the administrative burden on
the WTO Secretariat, notifications shall be made
[semi-annually][annually].5. National provisions implementing the
multilateral system of notification and registration
shall also be notified.
WTO Members may decide to participate
or discontinue participation in the system at any
time.6. Each participating Member shall provide a
contact point in its administration.
7. The geographical indications, notified by
participating Members, shall be published as soon
as possible by the WTO Secretariat and notified to
Members.IP/C/W/259
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C. MULTILATERAL EXAMINATION OF
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS PUBLISHEDC. MULTILATERAL EXAMINATION OF
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS PUBLISHED
1. Members may examine the published
geographical indications.  They may send
questions to and ask for explanations from the
participating Member in question within a period
of 18 months following publication by the
Secretariat.
2. Where a Member challenges, in a dulyjustified manner, the protection of an individual
geographical indication notified by another
Member, these Members shall enter into
negotiations, within the period of 18 months,aimed at resolving the disagreement.2. Where a Member challenges, in a duly
justified manner, the protection of an individual
geographical indication notified by another
Member, these Members shall enter into
negotiations, within the period of 18 months,aimed at resolving the disagreement.  If such
bilateral negotiations do not yield a mutually
satisfactory result within the 18 month period the
dispute arising from the challenge shall be settled
by arbitration.  The decision of the arbitrator shallbe final and binding upon the parties.IP/C/W/259
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2. Registration D. REGISTRATION D. REGISTRATION
Following receipt of notifications, the
Secretariat shall compile a database of all notified
geographical indications for covered products.
Copies of the lists of notified geographicalindications shall be distributed to all WTO
Members.  In accordance with Article 23.3, the
same or similar geographical indication may be
submitted by more than one WTO Member,
provided the geographical indication is recognizedby each notifying WTO Member in accordance
with its national regime for protecting
geographical indications.  The lists shall indicate
with respect to each indication the WTO Member
that notified the indication;  the expiration date of
protection, if any;  and any other multilateral
agreement for geographical indications underwhich the indication is protected.  To ensure
maximum transparency, the Secretariat shall, in
addition to distributing copies of the lists to WTO
Members, make the lists accessible on the WTO's
Internet Web Site (www.wto.org).1. Geographical indications, which have
been notified and published, shall be registered
within 18 months of publication.  Registration
shall refer to any challenge under provision C.2.
2. In the case of homonymous geographical
indications, each indication shall be registered
subject to the provisions of Article 22, paragraph 4
of the TRIPS Agreement.1. Geographical indications, which have
been notified and published and have not been
challenged, shall be registered within 18 months of
publications.
2. Until a challenge made in connection with
the multilateral registration of an individual
geographical indication is not settled under the
provisions in paragraph C.2, the notifiedgeographical indication shall not be registered.
3. Geographical indications successfully
challenged on the basis of Article 22.1 or
Article 22.4 of the TRIPS Agreement shall not be
registered.
4. Geographical indications successfully
challenged on the basis of Article 24.4,
Article 24.5 or Article 24.6 of the TRIPS
Agreement shall be registered and the registration
shall refer to the successful challenge.
2The Secretariat shall have no discretion to
decline to accept a geographical indication notified
by a WTO Member.IP/C/W/259
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2. Registration (cont'd) D. REGISTRATI ON (cont'd) D. REGISTRATION (cont'd)
5. Participating Members shall not refuse
protection for registered geographical indications.
A successful challenge made on the basis of
Article 24.4, Article 24.5 or Article 24.6 of the
Agreement on TRIPS shall justify the refusal of
protection only in respect of the Member orMembers which successfully challenged
registration.
3. Participating Members shall facilitate the
protection of an individual registered geographicalindication by providing the legal means for
interested parties to use the registration as a
presumption of the eligibility for the protection of
the geographical indication.6. Participating Members shall facilitate the
protection of an individual registered geographicalindication by providing the legal means for
interested parties to use the registration as a
presumption of the eligibility for the protection of
the geographical indication.
4. Members who have not challenged, within18 months, the registration of an individual
geographical indication under provision C.2 shallnot refuse its protection on the basis of
Articles 22.1, 22.4 and 24.6 of the TRIPS
Agreement.IP/C/W/259
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STATES (IP/C/W/107/Rev.1)PROPOSAL BY HUNGARY
(IP/C/W/255)
2. Registration (cont'd) D. REGISTRATI ON (cont'd) D. REGISTRATION (cont'd)
After the initial notification, the WTO
Secretariat shall revise the database of notified
geographical indications, adding or deleting
indications in accordance with WTO Members'notifications.5. The obligation to protect an individual
geographical indication shall be suspended if the
geographical indication is not or ceases to be
protected in its country of origin or has fallen intodisuse in that country.
6. The Secretariat shall publish the registered
geographical indications and inform Members of
them.7. The obligation to protect an individual
geographical indication shall be suspended if the
geographical indication is not or ceases to be
protected in its country of origin or has fallen intodisuse in that country.
8. The Secretariat shall publish the registered
geographical indications and inform Members of
them.
3. Legal Effects under National Legislation
WTO Members choosing to participate in
the system will agree to refer to, along with other
sources of information, the WTO lists of notified
geographical indications for covered products
when making decisions to provide protection for
geographical indications for such products inaccordance with their national legislation.
Information obtained from the WTO lists would be
considered in making those decisions in
accordance with that national legislation.IP/C/W/259
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3. Legal Effects under National Legislation
WTO Members not participating in the
system will be encouraged to refer to the WTO
lists, along with other sources of information, in
making similar decisions under their nationallegislation in order to base such decisions on the
most complete information available.
Appeals from, or objections to, any
decisions granting or rejecting protection for
particular geographical indications, whethernotified to the WTO or not, shall occur at the
national level at the request of appropriate
interested parties in accordance with each WTO
Member's national legislation.  Should any appeal
or objection result in a final decision that a
domestic geographical indication for a covered
product is ineligible for protection within thenotifying WTO Member's territory, that WTO
Member shall so notify the WTO Secretariat
during the subsequent notification period.
Any geographical indication for covered
products established in accordance with national
legislation is entitled to protection under Section 3
of Part II of the TRIPS Agreement, whether or not
it is registered in the WTO database.IP/C/W/259
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4. Review E. UPDATING THE MULTILATERAL
SYSTEM
The TRIPS Council shall conduct a review
of the operation of the multilateral system for
notification and registration of geographical
indications for covered products two years after
establishment to determine its effectiveness in
assisting participating WTO Members inprotecting geographical indications for such
products in accordance with Section 3 of Part II of
the TRIPS Agreement.1. Participating Members shall notify the
Secretariat of any additions or amendments to or
deletions from their initial notification of
geographical indications.
2. The same examination and registration as
well as publication procedures shall apply.
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