The Pan-African
Geographical Indications
information hub

On 7 and 8 May 2020, EUIPO, in collaboration with OAPI, delivered a 2-day online training session to the students of the OAPI – University of Yaoundé II – 2020 Master's Program on Intellectual Property.

The sessions focused on different topics, being one of them the presentation of a case recently decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union that deals with the level of protection of a GI in the form of a collective mark.

EUIPO, as the implementing agency for the “Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Action for Africa” project (AfrIPI), funded by the European Union, is currently developing a Manual on African Geographical Indications (in English and French), containing the following information:

On 15 June 2020, Tete Goat (Cabrito de Tete) was registered as a Geographical Indication in Mozambique, with the support of WIPO and FAO. It is the first GI registered at an ARIPO member state.

The African Union Commission and the European Commission co-hosted the 3rd AU EU Agriculture Ministerial Conference, which was held in the FAO premises in Rome on the 21st June 2019.

The approximately 450 invitees, comprising of high-level representatives, stakeholders from Africa and Europe, engaged in discussions on how to realize the potential for sustainable and inclusive rural and agricultural development.

As identified by the Consultative Committee for the Continental Strategy for Geographical Indications in Africa, the EUIPO organized a targeted training activity on GIs in cooperation with OAPI, called “Training by Action: Madd de Casamance”.

The main objectives of this training were to reinforce the capacities of the actors of the value chain of a potential GI, called Madd of Casamance, to the problematic of the “cahier de charges” of a GI product and to help them to structure a GI group owner, such as a GI association.

As identified by the Consultative Committee for the Continental Strategy for Geographical Indications in Africa, the EUIPO is supporting the identification to a set of pilot projects for the development and protection of new GIs from Africa, and more concretely from ARIPO Member States. The purpose of the assignment is to identify and assess potential GIs, providing details on the respective qualities linked to the geographical origin, the local resources mobilised and production processes involved.

As one of the three pilot projects for the development and protection of GIs in Africa, the Consultative Committee for the Continental Strategy for Geographical Indications is launching the mock-up of the future Pan African Geographical Indications information hub. This would enable the visualisation, probing and testing of the functionality of the platform to be developed in the future, before it made accessible to the general public.