On 26th November, Strength2Food representatives spoke at the online conference “Strengthening geographical indications”, organised and coordinated by the European Commission (DG Agri) and the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). The two-day event brought together Geographical Indications (GIs) experts, producers, EU country officials, and international and civil society associations to discuss on a wide range of issues related to the EU GI systems, from sustainability to the legal challenges of protecting GIs on the internet, from the global dimension of GIs to their enforcement in the EU countries.

Strength2Food coordinator Matthew Gorton from Newcastle University Business School, and deputy coordinator Filippo Arfini from the University of Parma presented the project’s key empirical results and recommendations to improve the effectiveness of GIs. AREPO, which sits on Strength2food’s stakeholder advisory board, also contributed to the online event bringing expertise on priorities and expectations for EU quality schemes.

All contributions and parallel discussions have been recorded and made available on the EC website. Here we highlight the following presentations:

Matthew Gorton: Strength2Food project evidence on consumer evaluation and use of PDO and PGI logos

You can download the slides here

Filippo Arfini: Strength2Food project evidence on PDO and PGI sustainability

You can download the slides here

Strength2food  also welcomed the opportunity to engage in knowledge-exchange to enhance policy making on EU food quality policy and contributed to the EC public consultation on Geographical Indications: “Revision of the EU geographical indications (GIs) systems in agricultural products and foodstuffs, wines and spirit drinks”. The Strength2Food feedback document can be accessed here.