Vilsack: Geographical indicators big issue in Europe
June 16, 2014 | 03:48 PM
Almost all of the 28 European Union agriculture ministers and other agricultural officials who met with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in Luxemburg City today raised the importance of geographical indications in the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) negotiations, Vilsack told reporters today.
“The GI issue came up in almost every conversation from the European side,” Vilsack said, explaining that he had given opening remarks at a working lunch and that each of the European officials had the opportunity to make comments in response.
The Europeans want the United States to agree in the T-TIP talks to give formal recognition to geographical indications, which restrict the use of a name of a product to the place where it originated.
Champagne and Parma ham are examples of geographical indicators, but in the T-TIP negotiations, it is the names of certain cheeses that are of specific interest. The U.S. dairy industry maintains that U.S. producers have been making cheeses such as Havarti and Gorgonzola for generations, and that the names are generic.
“There is no question there is going to have to be a serious negotiation about this,” Vilsack told reporters.
The Europeans, he said, seem to think they can impose restrictions on what have been considered generic products. He added that the negotiations are particularly difficult because Canada has agreed to accept some geographical indicators in its tentative free trade agreement with the European Union.
The conflict, Vilsack noted, is between the system of geographical indicators and the U.S. trademark system, which also provides protection for products with certain characteristics but does not provide geographical protection.
“I’m suggesting we ought to be able to find a way to capture value without limiting market access,” Vilsack said. “We’re both committed to finding a way to find that sweet spot where value can be protected but market access is not denied.”
Vilsack said he was “very candid” with European officials, telling them that without a strong agriculture section it would be very difficult to get Congress to pass T-TIP. He also said that U.S. and European officials all need to explain the value of the trade agreements to their publics and policymakers without “going into details that would disclose negotiating strategy and positions.”
Vilsack, who is planning more meetings in Brussels, Paris and Ireland this week, called the luncheon “a very strong start to a very important but obviously difficult conversation.”
Vilsack noted he is optimistic because “at the end of the day” both U.S. and European producers could benefit from the agreement.
He cited the North American Free Trade Agreement as one that has worked for three nations — the United States, Canada and Mexico.
T-TIP “is a tremendous opportunity for American agriculture,” he said. “I hope that with a lot of hard work we can get to a good place.”
But he also said, “It is tricky, it is very hard, which is why it takes a long time for these agreements to come to fruition.”
Vilsack described the European commissioners as “agricultural representatives as well as politicians” who “have a hand on the pulse of their people. They know what their people will accept and not accept.”
But he said the commissioners are also leaders who understand the long-term benefits of trade agreements.
Vilsack said he talked about tariffs, non-tariff barriers, geographical indications, biotechnology, cloning, regulatory simplification and pathogen reduction. The secretary said he tried to emphasize that Europeans and Americans have a “common language” on agriculture based on “a commitment to science and letting science direct on how we decide those things.”
The European decision last week to allow countries to ban the cultivation of biotech crops approved at the EU level did not come up, Vilsack said. He noted that the U.S. government has not taken a position on this EU decision.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization also told The Hagstrom Report this week that it had no comment on the EU decision.
Vilsack continued on to Brussels, where he has scheduled to meet with EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloş, EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger, EU Parliament Agriculture Committee Chairman Paolo de Castro and Brussels-based U.S. business interests at the American Chamber of Commerce.
He will also travel to Paris and Ireland.
“The GI issue came up in almost every conversation from the European side,” Vilsack said, explaining that he had given opening remarks at a working lunch and that each of the European officials had the opportunity to make comments in response.
The Europeans want the United States to agree in the T-TIP talks to give formal recognition to geographical indications, which restrict the use of a name of a product to the place where it originated.
Champagne and Parma ham are examples of geographical indicators, but in the T-TIP negotiations, it is the names of certain cheeses that are of specific interest. The U.S. dairy industry maintains that U.S. producers have been making cheeses such as Havarti and Gorgonzola for generations, and that the names are generic.
“There is no question there is going to have to be a serious negotiation about this,” Vilsack told reporters.
The Europeans, he said, seem to think they can impose restrictions on what have been considered generic products. He added that the negotiations are particularly difficult because Canada has agreed to accept some geographical indicators in its tentative free trade agreement with the European Union.
The conflict, Vilsack noted, is between the system of geographical indicators and the U.S. trademark system, which also provides protection for products with certain characteristics but does not provide geographical protection.
“I’m suggesting we ought to be able to find a way to capture value without limiting market access,” Vilsack said. “We’re both committed to finding a way to find that sweet spot where value can be protected but market access is not denied.”
Vilsack said he was “very candid” with European officials, telling them that without a strong agriculture section it would be very difficult to get Congress to pass T-TIP. He also said that U.S. and European officials all need to explain the value of the trade agreements to their publics and policymakers without “going into details that would disclose negotiating strategy and positions.”
Vilsack, who is planning more meetings in Brussels, Paris and Ireland this week, called the luncheon “a very strong start to a very important but obviously difficult conversation.”
Vilsack noted he is optimistic because “at the end of the day” both U.S. and European producers could benefit from the agreement.
He cited the North American Free Trade Agreement as one that has worked for three nations — the United States, Canada and Mexico.
T-TIP “is a tremendous opportunity for American agriculture,” he said. “I hope that with a lot of hard work we can get to a good place.”
But he also said, “It is tricky, it is very hard, which is why it takes a long time for these agreements to come to fruition.”
Vilsack described the European commissioners as “agricultural representatives as well as politicians” who “have a hand on the pulse of their people. They know what their people will accept and not accept.”
But he said the commissioners are also leaders who understand the long-term benefits of trade agreements.
Vilsack said he talked about tariffs, non-tariff barriers, geographical indications, biotechnology, cloning, regulatory simplification and pathogen reduction. The secretary said he tried to emphasize that Europeans and Americans have a “common language” on agriculture based on “a commitment to science and letting science direct on how we decide those things.”
The European decision last week to allow countries to ban the cultivation of biotech crops approved at the EU level did not come up, Vilsack said. He noted that the U.S. government has not taken a position on this EU decision.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization also told The Hagstrom Report this week that it had no comment on the EU decision.
Vilsack continued on to Brussels, where he has scheduled to meet with EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloş, EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger, EU Parliament Agriculture Committee Chairman Paolo de Castro and Brussels-based U.S. business interests at the American Chamber of Commerce.
He will also travel to Paris and Ireland.
