Project title:
“Pro-GIs: Intellectual Property Right extension & Geographical Indications protection for the benefit of EU-Thailand Trade”.
Thailand EC Cooperation Facility.
Programme: Thailand EC Cooperation Facility.
The project fits perfectly with the objectives of Thailand EC Cooperation Facility and priority issued, namely:
(A): Project target group and beneficiaries will benefit EU experience in a new area of legislation (Regulation EC No. 510/2006 on the protection of Geographical Indications) with direct effects on trade and investments in GIs products and IPR issues. Presently Thai GIs products cannot be directly recognised as such according to EC Regulations with a proved negative impact on Thai export of GIs products to EU market.
(B): To sustain the potential for trade and investment in the longer term, IPR and GIs issues will be addressed as a central topics.
(C): The project will focus on the area of: “Trade and Investment, integration into the regional and world economy” by supporting on one hand a stakeholders market oriented dialogue on IPR issues and on the other hand following up Thai GIs practical procedures to attain registration and protection according to EC Regulation.
(D): project approach will generate tangible and short term benefits for trade and investment flows between EU and Thailand (Thai GIs registered and protected according to Reg. EC n. 510/2006 will be recognised as new GIs in EU market giving to consumers new certified products). At the same time, the project presents strong complementarities with the former EC ASEAN Intellectual Property Rights Co-operation Programme, ECAPII, (it ended on December 2007) and with the next (announced) ECAP III Programme.
Project reference number: DCI-ASIE 2008/159 903.
Project’s partnership :
• Thai Italian Chamber of Commerce, TICC (Beneficiary)
Thai-Italian Chamber of Commerce
1126/2 Vanit II Building, 16th Floor Room 1601B New Petchburi Rd., Makkasan, Rajthevi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
Contact person: Mr. Sandro Zanello
Email:info@thaitch.org
Tel: (+66) 2 253 9909 or (+66) 2 255 8695 , Fax: (+66) 2 253 9896
• Bioagricoop scrl (Partner) – non profit making
Via Miliani, 7
40132 Bologna (BO)
Italy
Contact person: Dr. Giovanni Galanti
Email: giovanni.galanti@bioagricoop.it
Tel: (+39) 051 6199753, Fax: (+39) 051 6177103
Programme: Thailand EC Cooperation Facility.
The project fits perfectly with the objectives of Thailand EC Cooperation Facility and priority issued, namely: (A): Project target group and beneficiaries will benefit EU experience in a new area of legislation (Regulation EC No. 510/2006 on the protection of Geographical Indications) with direct effects on trade and investments in GIs products and IPR issues. Presently Thai GIs products cannot be directly recognised as such according to EC Regulations with a proved negative impact on Thai export of GIs products to EU market. (B): To sustain the potential for trade and investment in the longer term, IPR and GIs issues will be addressed as a central topics. (C): The project will focus on the area of: “Trade and Investment, integration into the regional and world economy” by supporting on one hand a stakeholders market oriented dialogue on IPR issues and on the other hand following up Thai GIs practical procedures to attain registration and protection according to EC Regulation. (D): project approach will generate tangible and short term benefits for trade and investment flows between EU and Thailand (Thai GIs registered and protected according to Reg. EC n. 510/2006 will be recognised as new GIs in EU market giving to consumers new certified products). At the same time, the project presents strong complementarities with the former EC ASEAN Intellectual Property Rights Co-operation Programme, ECAPII, (it ended on December 2007) and with the next (announced) ECAP III Programme.
Amount contributed by EC: 164.954,61 euro.
Project’s location: Thailand.
Duration: 18 months. Start date: September, 8 2008. End date: March 2010.
Summary:
The project is aimed at strengthen Geographical Indication (GIs) products trade flows between EU and Thailand, improving protection (according to Reg. EC n. 510/2006) and increasing value (through the use of EU logo) of Thai GIs products.
The target groups are:
1. All Thai GIs lodgers already registered in Thailand (currently 18 organisations). A pilot group of them (4 organisations) will be followed up to access to third party certification (pre condition for registration in EU), one or two organisations (up to 500 farmers) will be led until the GIs product final registration and protection in EU.
2. Department of Intellectual Properly (DIP), Ministry of Commerce, is the key institution engaged in the promotion of Intellectual Property (IP) and GIs in Thailand. Despite the responsibilities and commitments, It lacks competencies to guarantee internal controls, inspection and certification take place.
Beneficiaries:
3. other governmental stakeholders such as Department of Export Promotion (DEP), Ministry of Commerce and Queen Sirikit Institute of Sericulture (QSIS), Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, will respond for Thai GIs other than food staff (e.g silk and fabric) and necessary future promotion strategies by learning form the project.
4. Former EC ASEAN Intellectual Property Rights Co-operation Programme, (ECAPII), and/or staff assigned to next announced ECAP III Programme and/or staff from the European Patent Office. They will be involved as beneficiaries In order to guarantee the best coordination with the complementary ongoing and future regional EC-ASEAN initiative on IPR.
5. Other local stakeholders such as NGOs, universities private sector operators etc. with an interest in GIs development. They will be reached by the project in order to guarantee a wide dialogue on IPR and GIs development support.
6. Representative of European Institutions (e.g Chambers of Commerce, etc) involved in the promotion and development of EU/Thai trade to present the point of view of EU operators and to take care of their interests.
7. All farmers belonging to Thai registered GIs will benefit from the value enhancement of their products.
8. New potential Thai GIs lodgers and related farmers; a certain number of new organizations are expected to ask for GIs registration and benefit from the project activities. 9. Consumers in EU and Thailand will benefit from and enhanced number of GIs and the introduction of completely new GIs products.
The main activities include:
training program for selected Thai GIs lodgers (target group) focused on EU legislation and GIs products protection; pilot inspection and certification and registration program for a selected number of Thai GIs; inclusion opportunity assessment of new agriculture product (non food staff) in EC Reg 510/2006 Annex II (the case of Thai silk); preliminary assessment of Thai GIs market potential in EU; stakeholders oriented meetings for IP and GIs development in Thailand and in the ASEAN Countries.
Overall objective:
To contribute to strengthen GIs food trade flows between EU and Thailand. IPR and GIs are a vital element of entrepreneurship and an engine for the economic development and growth of nations. However an ongoing policy debate exists and hampers the extension of the coverage of GIs within the World Trade Organization(WTO) system. Outside the WTO negotiation, many countries including EU and Thailand, are setting up GIs bilateral strategies to enhance the reciprocal recognition and protection of GIs. In this context, the project intends to contribute to strengthen the EU – Thai dialogue on GIs by involving key stakeholders and supporting future EC initiative (the announced ECAP III). Operators oriented know how will be transferred by EU experts in order to facilitate and encourage new trade operations.
Project purpose:
Improved protection (according to EC Reg. 510/2006) and increase value (through the use of EU logo) of Thai GIs. Considering that WTO TRIPS Agreement is currently the primary mean for protection GIs at international level and that, however, it does not guarantee high level of protection, EU and Thailand start to strongly encourage and support registration and therefore full protection of EU and Thai GIs respectively on Thai and EU market. The project aims at improving the protection of Thai GIs according to EC Council Regulation no. 510/2006. Targeting Thai GIs lodgers and stakeholders and implementing assistance and follow up to those selected as pilot group, the project intends to produce tangible contributions as Thai GIs registered and protected in EU. The circulation of the experiences learned by Thai operators in the process to get EU protection, will increase the potential for new GIs registration and therefore improved protection, visibility and value for Thai GIs through the use of EC logo.
Expected results:
1 Circulation of best practices on the process to register Thai GIs in EU take place;
2:Case studies displaying how Thai GIs may extend their protection in EU market are available;
3:Characteristics and figures of GIs market in EU are easy available for Thai GIs lodgers.
Activities:
1.1: Organize and implement the kick off meeting: operators oriented discussion for the improvement of Thai GIs market performance;
2.1 Organize and implement the Thai GIs lodgers training and follow up;
2.2 Preparation and follow up of Thai GIs application to EU;
1.2 Organize and implement the intermediate meeting: “From Field to Folks”, experience learned in the process to register Thai GIs in EU;
3.1 Study draw up: Preliminary assessment of Thai GIs market potential in EU;
1.3 Organize and implement the final meeting: Celebrating the new Thai GIs registered in EU, enlarging EU market visibility in Thailand and making the point for a wider project overall objective achievements.
|
