Policy Forum - Understanding Geographical Indications: What is the Evidence?

The EU and the USA/Australia/New Zealand disagree substantially on GI policy for foods. The critical issue is whether foods should have strong-form protection (e.g. cannot say feta-style). This Policy Forum presented results from the preceding workshop to a wider audience.

The purpose of this project is to marshal and assess the evidence as to the impact of GI policy. The focus is on:

1) whether producers are able to achieve a higher net income from the use of GIs; and
2) what are the GI impacts on rural and regional prosperity.

Empirical research to date is sparse and scattered. It suggests that the impact of GIs on both producers and regional prosperity is variable and contingent. ANUCES has undertaken an extensive review of the available empirical evidence about the economic impact of GI labelling. This Policy Forum will present this evidence and draw out the main policy and trade negotiation implications. It will also identify the major areas where there is a lack of knowledge so that future policy-oriented research can be well directed.

As a secondary part of the project, ANUCES is investigating the use of GIs in North-East Asia. A number of countries in this region appear to have a terroir concept similar to that in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Preliminary results of this research, focusing on the history of regional speciality tributes in China will be presented.

Event flyer

Slides:

Schedule:

9 – 9.15am: Registration and coffee
9.15 – 9.30am: Welcome and overview, Annmarie Elijah
9.30 – 10am: The size of the GI market, Hazel Moir
10 – 10.30am: Willingness to pay a GI premium, Áron Török
10.30 – 10.45am: Morning tea
10.45 – 11.30am: The impact of GIs on producer and rural prosperity: what we do and don’t know, Áron Török, Fillipo Arfini
11.30am – 12pm: GIs in China, Wenting Cheng
12 – 1pm: Policy and trade implications of the GI evidence, panel discussion moderated by Annmarie Elijah
1pm:Close and lunch

Biographies

Ms Wenting Cheng
Wenting Cheng is a Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, and a PhD candidate at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) in the ANU College of Asia and
the Pacific.

Dr Áron Török
Dr Áron Török is a Visiting Fellow at ANU Centre for European Studies for the Geographical Indications Jean Monnet project. Dr Török has come to ANU from Corvinus University of Budapest in Hungary where he is an Assistant Professor. Dr Török has a PhD in Agricultural Economics.

Professor Filippo Arfini
Filippo Arfini is Professor of Agricultural Economics and Rural Policies in the Department of Economics and Management at the University of Parma. He is Deputy of the H2020 Strength2Food Project, and author of a number of publications on the issue of GIs and their implication on Rural Development.

Listen to the audio recording of this event on ANU Soundcloud.