The War onTerroir: Geographical Indications as a Transatlantic Trade Conflict

Abstract

Terroir, the concept of an essential link between location of production and a specific quality attribute, is emerging as a contentious issue in trade negotiations and disputes. This issue is manifest through disputes and disagreements about appropriate protection of ‘geographical indications’ (GIs). This paper explores the differences in approach taken by the EU and the US towards GI protection, and illustrates the nature of the legal and economic arguments. The transatlantic dispute is spreading to other countries through the inclusion of GI protection in regional and bilateral trade pacts. It also has implications for the eventual conclusion of the WTO Doha Round negotiations, as the terroir issue arises in both the agricultural and the Trade‐Related Intellectual Property (TRIPS) agendas, once again pitting the US and EU as protagonists. But there are signs of change in these positions as the GI system in the EU comes under review and producers in the US reconsider the possible advantages of location‐based identifiers. These issues are important in a number of food sectors, and are likely to be persistent. They deserve more attention from practising applied economists than they have yet received.

Valuation of a Protected Geographical Indication. The case of the meat of the Sierra de Guadarrama, Spain

“…En la globalización, los cambios en el patrón de consumo alimentario expandieron la demanda de bienes de especialidad (12) , y se crearon nuevos nichos de mercado para productos locales en el mercado global (13)(14)(15)(16) . La nueva demanda de bienes IGP, con reputación social de calidad territorial (17) multiplicó las marcas colectivas: en el comercio justo, de bienes "slow food" (18) ; bienes de circuitos cortos; de bienes con buenas prácticas ambientales o de agricultura orgánica (19) ; ligados a la acción colectiva y a capital relacional basado en la proximidad (20) .…”

Diversipede (April 2011) Volume 1, Number 1: FULL TEXT

“…I believe Tim Josling's (2006) use of the expression "the war on terroir" is his article titled "The War on Terroir: Geographical Indications as a Transatlantic Trade Confl ict" is not meant to be irreverent or to poke fun at oenophiles (wine lovers) as I initially suggested. Josling is a professor emeritus of the Food Research Institute at Stanford University.…”

“…As a subject matter it touches on politics (Josling 2006), economics (Heath and Meneley 2007), history (Helstosky 2003), and religion and spirituality (Trubek 2005) within both local and global contexts.…”

What is local and for what foods does it matter?

“…To protect the integrity of the regional label, many countries have strict regulations on whether a food product may qualify for a regional label and how the labels should be presented to consumers (Van Ittersum et al 2007). International business laws also have specific articles regarding this issue (Josling 2006). Despite the similarity of foods labeled for ROOE, no labeling laws currently exist to regulate the vaguely defined "local foods" (Schmit 2008).…”