Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun on Thursday distributed registration certificates of 14 Geographical Indication (GI) products, including Tangail Saree.
The minister handed over the certificates to those who proposed for GI recognition of those products, at a function at the Foreign Service Academy in the city, said a press release.
Department of Patents, Designs & Trademarks (DPDT) under the Ministry of Industries organized the event.
Speaking on the occasion, Humayun said Bangladesh followed all the legal procedures to retain the status of Tangail saree as a product of Bangladesh.
“Tangail saree will remain ours. We got the GI tag for Tangail saree by following all legal protocols,” he said.
The minister said with the certificates for fourteen products, the number of the total count of certified items rose to 31.
“The products which were granted GI certificates today, as well as those awaiting certification, boast centuries-old traditions, with some dating back thousands of years. Therefore, they cannot be replicated easily. We have been using these products for ages,” he added.
A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town or region). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product’s source, is intended as a certification that the product possesses certain qualities, is made according to traditional methods, or enjoys a good reputation due to its geographical origin.
Article 22.1 of the TRIPS Agreement defines geographical indications as “…indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a Member [of the World Trade Organization], or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin.”[
Appellation d’origine contrôlée (‘Appellation of origin’) is a sub-type of geographical indication where quality, method, and reputation of a product originate from a strictly defined area specified in its intellectual property right registration.
