Abstract:

Geographical indication (GI) protection is a crucial way to realize high quality and high prices for agricultural products and rural revitalization. It is also an important for intellectual property protection. Based on the ‘EU–China Geographical Indications Agreement’, this paper discusses the differences between China and the European Union (EU) in terms of GI protection from three aspects: the institutional framework, the operational system and the operational status. The findings are as follows: (1) In terms of the institutional framework, the EU implements the special legislation mode, while China implements the mixed protection mode of ‘GI + trademark’. (2) In terms of the operational system, the EU adopts a ‘bottom–up’ operation mode, while China prefers to adopt a ‘top–down’ approach. Finally, (3) in terms of operational status, the scope of products under GI protection in China is relatively broad, while the concentration of products under GI protection in the EU is relatively high; moreover, the competitiveness of core products is also relatively strong. By summarizing the experience of the EU in GI protection, this paper tries to improve China’ s GI protection system from the following three aspects: the legal system, the concept’ s definition, and the protection mode of GI.