Significance of Geographical Indication

Significance of Geographical Indication

The Geographical Indication registration confers the following benefits:

• Legal protection to the products
• Prevents unauthorized use of GI tag products by others
• It helps consumers to get quality products of desired traits and is assured of authenticity
• Promotes the economic prosperity of producers of GI tag goods by enhancing their demand in national and international markets

Along with the benefits, there are some drawbacks to using GI tags. Recently, there has been an increase in disagreements regarding the origin of the product under consideration. This is exacerbated by a lack of clear historical evidence.

Consider the debate over the origins of Roshogulla, a popular dessert from eastern India. West Bengal and Odisha both claim that the dessert originated in their respective states. Each state hopes to promote its own cultural and regional jingoism over the other by 'winning' a GI tag.

This type of unhealthy competition, as a point of discussion, tends to polarise the country along regional, cultural, and linguistic lines. In their rush to secure as many GI tags as possible, most states have neglected to consider how to increase the value of products that already have a GI tag.

As a result, neither the local community nor the customer gains financially. This trend undermines the concept of GI protection for native endemic products.