Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999
| Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 | |
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| An Act to provide for the registration and better protection of geographical indications relating to goods. | |
| Citation | Act No. 48 of 1999 |
| Enacted by | Parliament of India |
| Date assented to | 30 December 1999 |
| Date commenced | 15 September 2003 |
| Status: In force | |
The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 (GI Act) is a sui generis Act of the Parliament of India for protection of geographical indications in India. India, as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), enacted the Act to comply with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The GI tag ensures that none other than those registered as authorised users (or at least those residing inside the geographic territory) are allowed to use the popular product name. Darjeeling tea became the first GI tagged product in India, in 2004–05, since then 261 goods had been added to the list as of June 2016.
According to section 2 (3)(e) of the Act, Geographical indication has been defined as "an indication which identifies such goods as agricultural goods, natural goods or manufactured goods as originating, or manufactured in the territory of a country, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of such goods is essentially attributable to its geographical origin and in case where such goods are manufactured goods one of the activities of either the production or of processing or preparation of the goods concerned takes place in such territory, region or locality, as the case may be."
Some of the registered geographical indications includes, agricultural goods like Darjeeling tea, Malabar Pepper, Bangalore Blue Grapes, manufactured goods like Pochampalli Ikat, Kancheepuram Silk, solapuri chadars Bagh Prints, Madhubani paintings etc. The complete list is available at List of Geographical Indications in India.
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