On 26 November 2019, the EU acceded to the Lisbon Agreement, which creates an international system for the protection of geographical indications of origin.
Geographical indications of origin have so far been protected by the Paris Convention and it has been up to the individual Member States to implement
rules in their trademark laws in this regard.
With the World Intellectual Prolerty Organization (WIPO) as facilitator, we have now succeeded in establishing a global system for recording geographical indications of origin, such as Cognac, Parmesan, Prosciutto di parma and samsø cheese.
Thirty countries have now acceded to the Lisbon Agreement and it is expected that WIPO will receive the initial applications soon.
The issue of geographical origin was one of the major sources of the 2016 transatlantic trade agreement backlog, as the United States does not recognize geographical origin. It is traditionally Europe, and here France, Spain and Italy, which have the most geographical indications of origin.
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