Geographical Indications for Craft and Industrial Products
Following on from our blog regarding Geographical Indications in 2024, this blog looks at the extension to craft and industrial products that came into force in the European union on 1 December 2025.
As a reminder Geographical Indications (GI) are a particular type of mark for agricultural products and foodstuffs, wines and spirit drinks, and are used to signal that goods come from a particular geographical location or have particular characteristics that relate to that geographical area.
There are three different types of GI:
- Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) – which cover goods, where all of the constituents and steps taken to make them come from or take place in the geographical area- for example, PROSECCO,
- (ii) Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) – which cover goods that are processed in some way in the relevant geographical area – for example, YORKSHIRE WENSLEYDALE and
- Protected Names – which related to wines or spirits, for example TEQUILA.
What is a craft of industrial Product?
Under Regulation (EU) 2023/2411, craft products are goods that are made
- entirely by hand, or
- with the assistance of manual or digital tools, or
- mechanically where manual work is significant.
Industrial products are produced in a standardised way, including serial production and use of machines.
The breadth of these definitions means that a wide range of products could benefit from Geographical Indication protection, such as, products made from natural stone, wood, glass, porcelain, hides or skins, as well as lace, textiles, cutlery and jewellery.
Requirements
It is not sufficient to just qualify as a craft or industrial product, the product must also meet the geographical indication requirements and so must also:
- originate in a specific place, region or country,
- its given quality, reputation or other characteristic must be essentially attributable to its geographic origin, and
- at least one of its production steps must take place in the defined geographic area.
How to get protection
Registration is obtained through the European Intellectual Property Office CIGI (Craft and Industrial Geographical Indications) system.
You will need to file a product specification with your application, which should include (i) the name to be protected, (ii) the type of product, (iii) a description of the product, including raw materials where relevant, (iv) a description of the production methods, (v) details of packaging requirements, if packaging must take place in the same area, (vi) any special labelling rules, (vii) information about any production steps carried out outside the main area and how these are checked, and (viii) any other requirements set by national law or producer groups. You will also need to file a summary of the product specification as well as any supporting documents.
The application will be examined to ensure it meets all of the requirements. Once accepted it is published for opposition purposes.
Third party prior right holders, such as existing trade mark holders, can oppose your application.
Benefits
Once a product has been registered as a Craft and Industrial geographical Indication, producers may use the Union symbol for “Protection Geographical Indication”.
Any producer whose product meets the relevant product specification may use a registered CIGI. Producers must self-declare that their product complies with the specification by submitting a declaration to their competent authority (i) before the product is placed on the market and (ii) every three years thereafter.
In addition to the socio-economic benefits of CIGI’s resulting from preservation of traditional techniques, boosting of cultural tourism and supporting local employment, registration provides a mechanism for producers to prevent imitation or their goods.
What does this mean for you?
Given the large number of GI’s, now including CIGI’s, and the surprising range of signs registered, it would be prudent to consider including GI’s in your trade mark searching when you are choosing a new brand. GI’s can be relied upon to oppose a trade mark application, and of course GI’s can be infringed.
As a reminder, in addition to the wide range of marks that are protected as GI’s, there are number of different ways of infringing a GI.
Unsurprisingly a GI will be infringed if an unauthorised party uses the mark, or a similar mark for the goods for which it is registered. However, a product may also infringe a GI if it evokes the impression of that GI, even if it doesn’t explicitly use that word mark. A GI may be evoked by using associated words, for example, use of WEST COUNTRY with PASTY may be considered to evoke CORNISH PASTY. Although a GI is not registered for a figurative mark, use of figurative elements may evoke a GI. For example, use of an image of Swiss mountains, may evoke a Swiss GI. Infringement by evocation will depend very much on the goods or service and on the manner of use.
Furthermore, a product may infringe a GI if it looks like a protected product. For example, a product that has the shape or aspects of the appearance of a protected product may be considered to be liable to mislead the consumer as to its true origin.
In addition, use of a GI for services may also infringe a GI. The product or services do not need to be identical or similar to the goods for which the GI is registered, it just requires the manner of use of the name to create a direct link between the name and the GI in the mind of the average consumer.
It you produce a product that includes or uses a product protected by a Geographical Indication, you may still not be entitled to use the GI in your product name or marketing. To justify use of a GI, the end-product must have sufficient similarity with the product defined in the GI. So, for example, inclusion of an incidental amount of a GI protected product in your product may not be sufficient to enable you to use the GI, since the end-product is unlikely to be very similar to the product defined in the GI. Even if your product contains a significant similarity with product defined in the GI, consideration should still be given to ensuring the use made would not be detrimental to the GI.
This illustrates that it is important not just to consider the words of the GI, but the nature and appearance of the product covered by the GI and key elements of the geographical area relating to the GI when considering whether your product may mislead a consumer and therefore infringe the GI. It is also important to consider GI’s even for service marks.