Geographical indications for non-agricultural products

Summary:

This Cost of Non-Europe report seeks to quantify the costs arising from the lack of European Union (EU) legislation protecting Geographical Indications (GIs) for non-agricultural products, and analyses the benefits foregone for citizens, businesses and Member States. The report estimates that introducing EU-wide GI protection for non-agricultural products would have a positive overall effect on trade and employment. After about 20 years of implementation of EU GI protection for non-agricultural products, the overall expected increase is between €1 billion and €1.5 billion in intra EU exports and between €1.8 billion and €6.6 billion in extra-EU exports. The analysis shows that employment at regional level may rise by between 0.12 % and 0.14 %. In the EU overall, we can expect between 284 000 and 338 000 jobs to be created. In addition, the impact on rural development is expected to be positive, including through direct support to locally based high-quality producers, to rural economic diversification, and to the ability of local producers to organise collectively.