Additional Protection for Geographical Indications in India: A Critical and Empirical Analysis of Working of Section 22 (2) of Indian GI Act

Abstract

While Article 22 of the TRIPS Agreement grants a common minimum standard of GI protection to all goods, by virtue of Article 23 of TRIPS, ‘wines and spirits’ are given a higher level or additional protection, which is a complimentary protection in addition to the Article 22 common protection. At the national front, India has the highest registrations of GIs in agricultural and handicrafts classes of goods. Section 22 (2) and (3) of Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999 enable India to grant additional protection to ‘certain goods’ - the expression ‘certain goods’ is not defined in the Act. Section 22 (2) grants the Central Government, the authority to provide additional protection to certain class of goods by publishing a notification in the Official Gazette to that effect. When Article 23 of TRIPS Agreements qualifies for higher level protection only wines and spirits; the Indian GI statute does not restrict the additional protection to any specific class of goods. This paper critically examines the ‘working of section 22 (2) of Indian GI Act.’