Editor's note: Zhang Can is an assistant judge in the Beijing Intellectual Property Court. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

As a formal legal term, geographic indications do not enjoy a long history. It was first prescribed in WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in 1995. Its innate legal nature and close relationship with agriculture gives geographic indications a significant role to play in poverty alleviation.

As it approaches nearer to the goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way, Chinese government has put forward the notion of precise poverty alleviation. Local governments have introduced policies and measures concerning geographical indications to enrich farmers and remove poverty. They stimulated the increase in the number of geographical indications and, in return, promoted social and economic development of local rural industries and communities.

For example, Zengjiashan, a remote place in Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province, with its average altitude of more than 1,400 meters, is known as "small Tibet." People used to be fairly poor there. However, in recent years, Zengjiashan has made great efforts to develop the high mountain green vegetable industry. It has applied for registration of geographic indication certification trademarks on pepper, cabbage, lettuce and other vegetables, creating agricultural brands, developing village tourism, and increasing farmers' income.

Another case in point is Anhui Province. According to a survey, 19 counties in Anhui Province were regarded as national poverty-stricken counties. As a traditional big agricultural province, Anhui has adopted a policy of making the best use of geographic indications in targeted poverty elimination. The unique natural environment and topography make the geographical indication products of Anhui Province having their own characteristics. A batch of advantageous agricultural products, such as Xuan paper, Hui ink and Liu‘an tea, gained popularity in the market. Fifteen out of the 19 poverty-stricken counties have their own geographic indication products and are gradually getting out of poverty.

The role of GIs in poverty lifting and some prospect

The fundamentals of geographical indication for poverty lifting lies in two aspects: first, geographic indications are, in essence, a kind of commercial indications and bear the function somewhat like a well-known trademark. Once registered as a geographic indication product, a certain agricultural product or regional specialty can gain much additional value.

Second, geographic indications convey the message to the consumers that a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the goods is essentially attributable to its geographical origin. And such good qualities have been certified and endorsed by the authorities so that a geographic indication can be marked on them. This underlying informative function of geographic indication constitutes an upgraded quality and reputation guarantee, which makes the products prevail over those of the same kind in the market competition. 

So, when combined with poverty alleviation, geographic indications could prove effective in at least the following three respects. First, to boost industrial accumulation and realize economies of scale. In the production process of agricultural products, the standardized production process can provide guidance for farmers' agricultural production and reduce production costs. Second, to form brand effect and enhance the competitiveness of agricultural products. As a result, farmers don't have to worry about the sales of their products anymore. Third, to make full use of the rural labor force to revitalize the economic development in rural areas and form a long-term mechanism to promote farmers' income, which is conducive to continuous poverty alleviation.

Although geographic indications have made great contributions to targeted poverty lifting, there are still some improvements that can be made. First, we should work out more accurately the areas in which geographic indications and targeted poverty alleviation are entwined. Despite its legal nature, geographic indications have determined that they are closely connected to agriculture and conducive to its development, in some places, there is still a lack of coordination mechanism in the protection of geographical indications, and the understanding of its economic and social benefits in poverty alleviation is not enough. It is necessary to strengthen the coordination between different departments and promote the close combination of the protection and guidance of geographical indications with poverty alleviation to maximize the effect of geographical indications in helping poverty alleviation.

Secondly, we should establish a value evaluation mechanism of geographical indications in order to guide them to yield positive economic and social benefits in poverty alleviation and achieving prosperity. The evaluation of geographical indications is helpful to show its brand value intuitively, and the objective evaluation system can also guide the healthy and sustainable development of geographical indications. In November 2019, China Council for Brand Development (CCBD) has issued a letter on carrying out regional brand value evaluation of geographical indication products, encouraging the local authority to submit their well-known geographic indication for assessing to sustain and enlarge their brand influence.

Last but not least, not only for poverty alleviation, but also for creating an efficient and comprehensive geographic indication system with Chinese characteristics to make our related products globally competitive, we should further undertake institutional reform in order to build a more efficient, consistent and integrated public agency responsible for geographic registration, supervision and protection. 

There used to be three governmental branches regarding geographic indications. Although, during last round of institutional reform, the Trademark Office under the National Industrial and Commerce system and the Geographic Indication department have been transferred to the newly established National IP Office, there still remains changes to be made. Corresponding to the old institutional structure, the parallel legal system should also be streamlined to avoid incongruity, or even conflict sometimes, in relevant laws and regulations, and some experts call on making a special and unified Geographic Indication Law.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)