World Food Policy
ulation 510/2006 clearly requires that,
in the case of foreign GIs, verification
of compliance with GI specifications
is to be ensured by one or more pub-
lic authorities designated by the third
country and/or one or more product
certification bodies, which, from May
1, 2010 onwards, shall be EU standard
EN 45 011 or ISO/IEC Guide 65 (now
17 065) 6 -accredited. Interestingly, when
the EU Regulation on PDO/PGI was
amended in 2012 7 for GIs from third
countries, the reference to the EN
45 011 accreditation was dropped. In
this context, third countries are left with
a range of options: in October 2012, the
Vietnamese GI Nuoc Mam Phu Quoc
was registered in the EU as a PGI with
a control system based on a Control
Board 8 headed by a representative of
the Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Division
of Phu Quoc district; in 2013, Thai GI
Khao Hom Mali Thung Kula Rong-Hai
rice was also registered in the EU as a
PGI, but was certified by Bioagricert, a
European ISO 17 065-accredited cer-
tification body. Despite this apparent
flexibility, control by a private accred-
ited third-party certification body is
strongly advocated and largely influ-
ences the architecture of GI control sys-
tems in many countries, in particular,
in the four countries in our study.
Appropriate for the Control
of GIs in Southeast Asia?
1.3 National architectures for the
protection of GIs
G
eographical Indications have
been protected by sui generis law
in Thailand since 2003, 9 in Viet-
nam since 2005, 10 in Cambodia since
2014 11 , and in the Lao PDR since 2011. 12
Thailand is the region’s GI champion,
with 90 registered GIs—among which
are 76 Thai GIs and 14 international
GIs. Vietnam is also quite dynamic with
52 GIs for Vietnamese products and 6
GIs for foreign products. Finally, two
GIs are currently registered in Cambo-
dia for Cambodian products—Kampot
pepper and Kompeug Speu palm sugar
and two for foreign products. The Lao
PDR has none yet, but has two possible
6
7
Art 11.2 of EU Regulation of 2006.
Regulation (EU) No. 1151/2012 of November 21, 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products
and foodstuffs.
8 October 19, 2005 decision by the People’s Committee of Kien Giang Province approving the Reg-
ulation on the organization and operation of the Control Board for the Appellation of the Origin
Controlled of Phu Quoc fish sauce.
9 Geographical Indication Protection Act, B.E. 2546 (2003).
10 Geographical indications were first protected by recognition of the appellation of origin introduced
in the Civil Code of 1995, and later by the Intellectual Property Law drafted for the country’s acces-
sion to the WTO.
11 Royal Kram No. NS/RKM/0114/006 dated January 20, 2014 promulgating the Law on Geograph-
ical Indications and its Ministerial Regulation (Prakas) on the Procedure for the Registration and
Protection of Geographical Indications of December 29, 2016, replacing Prakas no. 105 MOC/ SM
2009 of May 18, 2009.
12 Law on Intellectual Property (No 08/NA, December 24, 2007) revised and amended by the Nation-
al Assembly in 2011 (No. 01/NA, December 20, 2011), Regulation for the implementation of the
law of October 25, 2016.
112