Adapting Common Rules in Geographical Indication systems: Evidence from the European Union

Abstract

"Since there is a knowledge gap in systematically understanding the amendments of collectively defined rules written down in the product specifications of protected GIs, this paper aims at answering the following questions: 1) Which types of EU GIs, namely Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indications (PGI)2, have been changed?, 2) Which countries are pursuing most of the amendments and when? In section 2, we present the analytical framework supporting the analysis of all 244 amendments listed on the EU DOOR website by September 29, 2016. Section 3 illustrates the procedures for GI registration and amendment while section 4 describes the statistical methods used for the analysis. Then, we present the results showing first general empirical evidence of GI amendments and then explaining the likelihood of making amendments in section 5. Sections 6 and 7 present the discussion and conclusion respectively."