Recently, the State Intellectual Property Office （SIPO） issued announcement list of 21 products approved to be called geographical indication （GI） protection products and 88 businesses approved to use the special marks for GI products.
The announcement reveals that the 21 approved GI protection products such as Bikeqi leeks and Tieling rice are checked and recommended by the administrative departments of the place of origin of GI from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and other provinces such as Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Shaanxi. According to the announcement, 88 businesses including Shanxi Liangfen Vinegar Co. LTD are approved to use the special marks for GI products, obtaining the protection of GI products.
It is reported that China currently protects 2,380 GI products, including 2,319 domestic products and 61 foreign products. According to the Decision on the Reform of the State Council's Institutions Concerning the Adjustment of the Function and Duties of Administrative Organs as Provided for in the Administrative Regulations, the reorganized SIPO is responsible for the acceptance and approval of the GI products protection applications and for the approval of the special marks for GI products. SIPO is responsible for organizing experts to evaluate GI protection applications. If it is accepted, the product will be approved to be the GI protection products. Their producers can apply to the administrative departments of place of origin of GI for using the special marks for GI products. SIPO will also make an announcement when the businesses are approved. （by Li Duo）
（Editor Li Xingyi）
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