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EU Digs In for Food Fight (Feb. 13, 2003 -- CropChoice news) -- SCOTT MILLER, Wall Street Journal,02/13/2003: GENEVA -- Over the centuries, Europe has given the world some of its
favorite foods. Now the Continent wants the names of many of them back.
If European negotiators at the World Trade Organization get their way,
numerous food names associated with specific regions, from the United
Kingdom's cheddar cheese to the Czech Republic's pilsner beer to Italy's
balsamic vinegar, will be reserved exclusively for companies located there.
With a number of developing countries following the EU's lead, that could
mean that hundreds if not thousands of products could have to be renamed
when they are made in places like the U.S. or Australia.
It may not stop there. There are already indications that a number of
countries want to police the adjectives used on product labels. And there is
even talk that "geographic indications," as they are known, might be
extended to include services like restaurants.
It's a horrifying prospect for retail groups and trade officials, who fear
mass consumer confusion and protracted legal fights over how all those goods
would be renamed. And that is to say nothing of damage to companies that
stand to see the identities of some of their most popular products erased.
Already there is talk that the fight, which largely pits the Old World
against the New, could derail the current Doha round of trade liberalization
talks in Qatar.
"It's offensive in the extreme to our producers," said Sara Thorn, director
of International Trade for the U.S. Grocery Manufacturers Association in
Washington. "It's goofy."
The way the Europeans and other countries see things, it's all about
protecting what is rightfully theirs and helping consumers by eliminating
fraudulent producers. Now, they say, people literally have to read the fine
print on product labels to find out if it's the genuine article, or some
cheap knockoff. Take mozzarella. EU officials argue that it is only truly
made according to exacting standards in a small corner of Italy, and that
while cheese from elsewhere may bear the name, it just doesn't taste the
same. "Some of what passes for mozzarella outside of Europe tastes like
chewing gum," said Franz Fischler, the European Union's commissioner for
agriculture. "What we want to do is good for consumers."
What's more, Europeans claim that they sometimes can't even use their own
names when selling abroad. A Canadian or American company, for example,
could trademark a product with a European name that would prevent the
"rightful" European manufacturer from selling his goods there.
Europe already has a strong example for its food-branding ambitions. In
1995, the world's major trading nations agreed on rules governing wines and
spirits. That, for example, has prevented California and Australian makers
of sparkling wines from selling their products as "Champagne" outside their
home countries; only bubbly from the northeast corner of France can use that
name globally. And the EU itself already has adopted geographic-indication
laws governing nearly 600 products. Most recently, for example, Brussels
ruled that only Greek companies that use goat milk and specific production
methods can market and sell Feta cheese within the EU, much to the
irritation of Danish and French makers of a similar product.
For New Worlders, the European idea amounts to nothing more than barefaced
protectionism. "This doesn't speak about free trade, it's about making a
monopoly of trade," said Sergio Marchi, Canada's ambassador to the WTO.
"It's hard to even calculate the cost and confusion of administrating such a
thing."
When Europeans settled the New World, he and others argue, they brought
these products and the names with them. How can the Europeans who stayed
behind claim their "own" place names now? What the Europeans are really
trying to do is cover up for their own inefficient production practices,
some charge. European farms, for example, are on the whole smaller and more
labor intensive than their counterparts in the wide-open spaces of North
America or Australia.
What's more, some argue, producers in the New World have in a sense earned
the right to use these names. It's huge food companies there, not small
mom-and-pop makers back on the Continent, who have marketed and built up the
value of many of the product names the Europeans now want to protect, they
say.
"Many European producers of wine and food are no longer as competitive,
efficient or as innovative as their New World rivals," said David Spencer,
Australia's ambassador to the WTO and an outspoken critic of geographic
indications.
The debate at the world trade body is still in its early stages and it is
still unclear how many names the Europeans want to reserve or even how to
define a geographic indication. India, for example, wants basmati rice to be
protected even though basmati isn't a place name.
Should the Europeans prevail, nonnative food makers would have to go back to
the drawing board to invent totally new names for many household staples.
Europe is opposed to wording like "-style" or "imitation" on product labels.
The goods will literally have to be named something completely different.
American lobbyists argue that there already is a provision for protecting
names, the trademark system. Indeed, numerous European names are already
included under U.S. "certification marks." An American maker, for example,
can't produce "Rocquefort" cheese, or use the term "Parma" when selling ham.
"There should be a way to address European concerns within the trademark
system," Ms. Thorn of the GMA said. Europeans, however, say that system
leaves too much burden on the maker itself to find and point out offenders.
Under the geographic-indications legislation, national governments would do
that fighting for them.
Mr. Spencer and others, however, wonder where it will all stop. Europe, for
example, argues that some descriptive words on wine labels have cultural
connotations and shouldn't be used by outside producers. In bilateral
negotiations outside the WTO, it has pressured some countries to stop
selling wine in Europe with labels describing their product as "tawny," a
color Europeans say is a traditional expression describing port.
And there are already worries that some companies may try to extend
geographic production to services. Italy, for example, would like to test
60,000 Italian restaurants around the world, ensuring that they use
Italian-made ingredients.
"Trying to colonize culinary traditions in restaurants and elsewhere is
going too far," Canada's Mr. Marchi said. "Can you imagine inspectors
wandering through Italian restaurants in Toronto or checking out tubs in
Turkish bath houses in Tokyo?"
Write to Scott Miller at scott.miller@wsj.com | |
