China makes significant progress in geographical indication protection

Workers transfer vine tea leaves in Laifeng County, central China's Hubei Province, May 23, 2018. Laifeng vine tea, made from vine leaves of ampelopsis plants, has been recognized as a national geographical indication product in 2013. 

Photo by Song Wen, Xinhua

China has approved 2,495 geographical indication (GI) products and seen the registration of 7,013 GI trademarks as of the end of October, the National Intellectual Property Administration said Wednesday.

GI sign is used to show the specific geographical origin of a product and identify its qualities or reputation due to that origin. It is an important type of intellectual property right and a quality guarantee.

China has rolled out a variety of measures for GI use and fostered GI protection since 2018.

In 2021, the total output value of Chinese enterprises using GIs exceeded 703 billion yuan (about 98.3 billion U.S. dollars), Zhang Zhicheng, an official with the administration, told a regular press briefing.

Zhang noted that international cooperation in foreign GI protection, including the China-European Union (EU) agreement on protecting GIs, which took effect last year, has enabled consumers from both sides to buy authentic specialties, such as wine, tea and agricultural products, from one another without fear of receiving substandard or counterfeit items.

As a result of the deal, the total number of EU GIs receiving protection in China has grown to 134 while Chinese GIs that are protected in the EU has reached 110, Zhang added.