On December 21, the Establishment Meeting of the Geographical Indications Subcommittee of the National Knowledge Management Standardization Technical Committee and the first Committee Meeting were held in Beijing. Zhou Huiguo, deputy director of China National Intellectual Property Administration, attended the Meeting and delivered a speech.
Zhou Huiguo pointed out that the Party Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights. Geographical indications, as one of the significant types of intellectual property rights, are scarce resources in market competition, a key measure to promote regional economic development, an important force in promoting foreign trade and foreign trade, and a living carrier for protecting traditional cultural heritage. After the institutional reform, CNIPA is responsible for geographical indications’ place of origin registration and administrative adjudication, drafted a unified recognition system and organized its implementation, laid a foundation for the effective protection of geographical indications. He requested that the Geographical Indications Sub-Technical Committee should thoroughly study and implement the General Secretary Xi Jinping’s significant speech when presided over the 25th collective study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Starting from the national strategic height and the requirements for entering a new stage of development, it will implement the requirement of comprehensively strengthen the requirement of the protection of intellectual property rights in all aspects of the Geographical Indication Subcommittee’s work. It is necessary to give play to the role of the platform, perform well in top-level design, and gather multiple forces to jointly promote the standardization of geographical indications. It is necessary to strengthen basic research, and build a standard system in accordance with the entire chain of geographical indication review, recognition, protection and supervision. It is necessary to strengthen the sense of service, extend the industrial chain and enhance the value chain through the standardization of geographical indications, and provide stronger technical support for high-quality development.
All members of the Geographical Indications Sub-Technical Committee deliberated and approved the Committee’s charter and working rules, discussed the relevant national standard system, work plan, and the draft project of the proposed national standard development plan. It focused on the legal system of geographical indications, the status and development of the protection of geographical indications in China. Furthermore, the local geographical indication protection and supervision practices, the function of geographical indication industry associations and enterprise quality control and other aspects were discussed.
The Meeting was chaired by Zhang Zhicheng, Chairman of the Geographical Indications Sub-Technical Committee and Director of the Intellectual Property Protection Department of CNIPA. Chen Hongjun, deputy director of the Standards and Technology Management Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation attended the meeting and delivered a speech. More than thirty people including relevant persons in charge of the State Administration for Market Regulation, representatives of the National Knowledge Management Standardization Technical Committee and members of the Geographical Indications Sub-Technical Committee attended the meeting. On December 2, 2020, the National Standards Committee announced the establishment of the Geographical Indication Sub-committee of the National Knowledge Management Standardization Technical Committee. The establishment of the Geographical Indications Sub-Technical Committee marks a new stage of standardized and professional development for the cause of geographical indications.
