La tutela internazionale delle indicazioni geografiche dei prodotti agroalimentari

The conclusion of the TRIPS Agreement (Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property rights) within the broader framework of the establishment of the WTO, at the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of the GATT, had raised great hopes for large-scale international harmonization of techniques and the effectiveness of intellectual property rights protection. This seemed particularly true for the food sector, as geographical indications represented one of the least "harmonized" legal tools for IP protection, given that several WTO member countries do not even have specific legislation or, if they do, adopt much less impactful protection measures compared to EU legislation. Instead, with regard to geographical indications, the TRIPS agreement has largely remained unimplemented. Moreover, paradoxically, in the still short history of this agreement, the only dispute concerning a violation of TRIPS has seen the EU in the dock, while the accusing parties, also paradoxically, are countries that have never adopted truly protective regulations for geographical indications. Furthermore, after achieving the result of inducing the EU to modify its legislation through this dispute, thus opening the doors to greater possibilities of registering geographical indications related to products originating from third countries, they did not take advantage of these increased chances of protection. This text analyzes this situation in light of the regulatory data, noting how, in the meantime, the most significant steps in the legal protection of geographical indications have been taken not within the multilateral framework of the WTO, but rather within the context of the increasingly prevalent bilateral negotiations between the EU and third countries.