One Size Fits all or Tailor-Made? Building Appropriate Certification
Systems for Geographical Indications in Southeast Asia
GIs for Bolaven coffee and Khao Khai
Noi rice and one application from a for-
eign country (Champagne).
produce the product bearing the GI,
collective organizations, or the admin-
istrative authorities of the locality to
which the GI pertains. 15 In practice, ap-
plications are often filed by the provin-
cial Department of Science and Tech-
nology, the Peoples’ Committees of the
province/district, or the Department of
Agriculture and Rural Development of
the province/district. In Cambodia and
in the Lao PDR, the producer associa-
tion is the only body authorized to ap-
ply for a GI. 16
In Thailand and Cambodia, the
competent authority in charge of reg-
istering GIs is the Department of In-
tellectual Property (DIP) under the au-
thority of the Ministry of Commerce,
whereas in Vietnam and Laos, the
competent authorities are under the au-
thority of the Ministry of Science and
Technology (the National Office of In-
tellectual Property in Vietnam and the
Department of Intellectual Property in
In contrast to other standards,
the Lao PDR).
what matters for the GI is the protec-
The competent authorities are tion of a name (usually the geograph-
in charge of examining the GI applica- ical name of the location where it is
tions, which will be the “standard” to produced). National GI logos indicat-
be controlled, like in the EU. In contrast ing that the name is registered as a GI
to the EU system, in which the nature are increasingly used, especially since
of the applicant, a producer/processor the GI concept is new in Asia. Thailand
17
group is always the same, the rules for has its own GI logo, which reads “Thai
a GI applicant are quite diverse in the Geographical Indication” and “GI” in
four Asian countries. In Thailand, the Thai and in English characters against
GI applicant can either be a private enti- a gold background. In Cambodia, the
ty (an individual person or a company), national logo for GIs was launched in
a group of producers/processors (asso- 2015 and in Lao PDR in 2016. Vietnam
ciation, cooperative, or non-formalized is in the process of launching its own
group), a group of consumers, or a pub- logo.
lic authority 13 (Provincial Authorities,
the Rice Department, the Queen Sirikit
Department of Sericulture). 14 In Viet-
nam, the right to register a GI belongs
to the State, but the State can delegate
it to organizations and indivi duals who
The four countries have been
following distinct pathways in imple-
menting controls and certification sys-
tems: while Thailand’s implementation
of controls was quite gradual, Cambo-
dia immediately jumped on the certifi-
13 Public authorities are sometimes involved in the preparation of the GI Book of Specifications, in
cooperation with the local communities and with the DIP GI Office.
14 Section 7 of the GI Law 2003.
15 Art. of the IP Law 2005.
16 Art.2.5 of the Lao Decision 2016 on Geographical Indications and art.7 of the GI Law of Cambodia.
17 The use of the GI National Logo is regulated by the “Department of Intellectual Property’s Regula-
tion for Thai Geographical Indication Logo Approval B.E. 2008”.
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