Tran Huu Nam, Deputy Director of the Industrial Property Office, toldEconomic and Urban Affairs newspaper about geographical indications, aterm used to identify and protect products from a particular region.
*Can you give us an explanation about the use of geographical indications in Vietnam to date?
Accordingto incomplete statistics, by the end of 2010, Vietnam had a total of944 geographical indications (GIs) for local products and services. Ofthese, the North had 361 GIs, the central 257 and the South 326. In2001, we only had two GIs.
By August 31 this year, another 61localities had submitted their registration requests, but only 41 werecertified. Thirty eight GIs were granted by Vietnam and the other threeby foreign countries. Vietnam now ranks second after Thailand on thenumber of products certified with GIs.
*Do you think this successreflects Vietnam's potential for exporting agro-forestry products andfisheries, which now have an annual export turnover of more than 20billion USD?
Agriculture is our primary industry, with rich anddiverse products, including traditional products such as rice, coffeeand fruit (dragon fruit, litchi, Nam Roi and Phuc Trach pomelos).Endowed with a favourable tropical climate, Vietnam is rich in tropicalfruit and their related products.
Many craft associations andtraditional craft villages have also not paid enough attention toregistering GIs for their products. It is high time for us to raiseawareness among the people and local authorities on the benefits of thesystem.
*Will Vietnam and Vietnamese farmers be at a disadvantage position if their products don't have GIs?
Nodoubt! If our products have got their GIs, their selling prices will bemuch higher. But, we have to concede that many of our products havefailed to meet domestic and foreign customers' requirements.
Atpresent, we export mostly raw materials to foreign buyers. A case inpoint is our rice. It is sold at 410 USD per tonne. After importing ourrice and doing some processing, including labelling, they sell one tonnefor 1,200 USD.
This is a good lesson for us. I think we shouldpay more attention to science and technology, including introducing newand high quality rice to farmers.
I'm pretty sure, if our ricequality meets international standards and has a trade mark "Made inVietnam", foreign customers would be willing to pay much more than 410USD for one tonne.
Another example I want to mention is Buon MaThuot coffee. Due to lethargy in applying for GI certificationinternationally, the locality name of the coffee was lost to a Chinesecompany, but after a two-year court battle in China, the ChineseMinistry of Commerce revoke the patent of the Chinese company inGuangzhou.
The ministry agreed that the Chinese company had beenfalsely using the Vietnamese locality name. Following the decision, theBuon Ma Thuot body that represents growers in the region applied fortrademark protection in 17 countries around the world.
In fact,the name Buon Ma Thuot coffee has not yet been used in the coffeedistribution network in Vietnam. It has been sold as raw produce only. AChinese company imported raw coffee from Buon Ma Thuot, processed itand sold it under the name Buon Ma Thuot coffee.
They knew thatBuon Ma Thuot was a well-known coffee growing region in Vietnam, butthey also knew the name had not been registered for GI internationally.This was an expensive lesson for Vietnam.
In many countries,including the United States, there is no need to apply for GIs for aproduct, but other types of legal registration are accepted, such asregistration for the protection of collective trade marks and trade markcertification.
*Vietnam is in the process of negotiating a fewimportant trade agreements, including the Trans Pacific PartnershipAgreement, the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Area. How will the GIs registrationin our country be affected?
GI registration work has beensupported by Vietnamese authorities and international organisations,including the FAO or MUTRAP. In addition to support from the VietnameseGovernment and international organisations, it is important to haveengagement from local authorities, producers' associations ortraditional craft villages.
But the first thing we have to do isto improve the quality of our products. For example, Hanoi now has morethan 1,300 traditional craft villages and many special agriculturalproducts, but none of them have registered for their GIs.
It ismy suggestion that Hanoi authorities, particularly the Hanoi Departmentof Science and Technology, review what are the city's specific productsto start their GIs registration or to ask for collective trade markcertifications or product certificates.-VNA
*Can you give us an explanation about the use of geographical indications in Vietnam to date?
Accordingto incomplete statistics, by the end of 2010, Vietnam had a total of944 geographical indications (GIs) for local products and services. Ofthese, the North had 361 GIs, the central 257 and the South 326. In2001, we only had two GIs.
By August 31 this year, another 61localities had submitted their registration requests, but only 41 werecertified. Thirty eight GIs were granted by Vietnam and the other threeby foreign countries. Vietnam now ranks second after Thailand on thenumber of products certified with GIs.
*Do you think this successreflects Vietnam's potential for exporting agro-forestry products andfisheries, which now have an annual export turnover of more than 20billion USD?
Agriculture is our primary industry, with rich anddiverse products, including traditional products such as rice, coffeeand fruit (dragon fruit, litchi, Nam Roi and Phuc Trach pomelos).Endowed with a favourable tropical climate, Vietnam is rich in tropicalfruit and their related products.
Many craft associations andtraditional craft villages have also not paid enough attention toregistering GIs for their products. It is high time for us to raiseawareness among the people and local authorities on the benefits of thesystem.
*Will Vietnam and Vietnamese farmers be at a disadvantage position if their products don't have GIs?
Nodoubt! If our products have got their GIs, their selling prices will bemuch higher. But, we have to concede that many of our products havefailed to meet domestic and foreign customers' requirements.
Atpresent, we export mostly raw materials to foreign buyers. A case inpoint is our rice. It is sold at 410 USD per tonne. After importing ourrice and doing some processing, including labelling, they sell one tonnefor 1,200 USD.
This is a good lesson for us. I think we shouldpay more attention to science and technology, including introducing newand high quality rice to farmers.
I'm pretty sure, if our ricequality meets international standards and has a trade mark "Made inVietnam", foreign customers would be willing to pay much more than 410USD for one tonne.
Another example I want to mention is Buon MaThuot coffee. Due to lethargy in applying for GI certificationinternationally, the locality name of the coffee was lost to a Chinesecompany, but after a two-year court battle in China, the ChineseMinistry of Commerce revoke the patent of the Chinese company inGuangzhou.
The ministry agreed that the Chinese company had beenfalsely using the Vietnamese locality name. Following the decision, theBuon Ma Thuot body that represents growers in the region applied fortrademark protection in 17 countries around the world.
In fact,the name Buon Ma Thuot coffee has not yet been used in the coffeedistribution network in Vietnam. It has been sold as raw produce only. AChinese company imported raw coffee from Buon Ma Thuot, processed itand sold it under the name Buon Ma Thuot coffee.
They knew thatBuon Ma Thuot was a well-known coffee growing region in Vietnam, butthey also knew the name had not been registered for GI internationally.This was an expensive lesson for Vietnam.
In many countries,including the United States, there is no need to apply for GIs for aproduct, but other types of legal registration are accepted, such asregistration for the protection of collective trade marks and trade markcertification.
*Vietnam is in the process of negotiating a fewimportant trade agreements, including the Trans Pacific PartnershipAgreement, the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Area. How will the GIs registrationin our country be affected?
GI registration work has beensupported by Vietnamese authorities and international organisations,including the FAO or MUTRAP. In addition to support from the VietnameseGovernment and international organisations, it is important to haveengagement from local authorities, producers' associations ortraditional craft villages.
But the first thing we have to do isto improve the quality of our products. For example, Hanoi now has morethan 1,300 traditional craft villages and many special agriculturalproducts, but none of them have registered for their GIs.
It ismy suggestion that Hanoi authorities, particularly the Hanoi Departmentof Science and Technology, review what are the city's specific productsto start their GIs registration or to ask for collective trade markcertifications or product certificates.-VNA
