This article examines three developing countries to identify capacities for innovative science policy: Brazil, South Africa and the Philippines. Using membership in regional trading agreements, we assess whether these three nations have aligned their science/innovation policy with the partners...

Food product attributes related to geographical origins are a topical issue in global food trade. The provision of geographical labeling may occur through geographical indications under the mandated trade rules of the TRIPS Agreement, through trademarks, or through country-of-origin labeling....

Based on the international legal framework as established by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the author discusses the approach to GI protection under South African law. While South Africa has not introduced a registration system with regard to GIs,...

This article discusses some economic issues linked to the 2006 European regulation regarding geographical indications. Economic implications of this regulation for foreign producers are investigated. The article examines whether or not the development of a geographical indication is a profitable...

Article 22 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) of the WTO offers, as last resort countermeasures, withdrawal of the concessions the state parties had agreed to in their schedules of commitments. The problem is that such a withdrawal of concessions would have very little impact on the...

There are two basic types of legal regime for the protection of geographical indications (GIs). Some systems, notably that of the European Union, define and treat GIs as a distinct type of intellectual property. This approach is also reflected in the provisions concerning GIs in the Agreement on...

This article provides an overview of the provisions on geographical indications contained in the TRIPS Agreement and how they came about in the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, which took place from 1986 to 1994 and resulted in the establishment of the World Trade Organization....

The extent to which food safety standards negatively affect the ability of firms in developing countries to export to the markets of developed countries depends on their approach to compliance. A case study of Guyana’s fish export industry tests this hypothesis. The analysis generally...

In the early 1990s reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy led to a change in emphasis away from price into policies to promote rural development, in part through improvements to food quality. Geographic indicators are only one of a range of EU policies designed to foster these...

Over the past decade, coffee producers have been struggling with the world market’s low and unstable coffee prices. Some coffee producing countries try to overcome this crisis by moving from pure commodity exports to higher-price exports of niche market quality products, like...