Vietnam Seeks GI Registration in Japan

On June 10, 2019, Vietnamese agricultural producer organizations applied under Japan’s Geographical Indication (GI) registration process for three agricultural items from Vietnam. As shown in Table 1, these are 1) Buôn Ma Thuột Coffee, 2) Lục Ngạn Lychee, and 3) Bình Thuận Dragon Fruit. After screening by MAFF and following a 3-month public comment period (not yet announced), expert committee members will discuss if the products can be recognized as Japanese GI items.

Presently, Prosciutto di Parma (Parma Ham) is the only non-Japanese product to be registered by the ordinary GI process (see JA7118). MAFF implemented GI systems for agricultural and food products in 2015 (see JA5008). As of June 14, 2019, Japan designated 81 domestic GIs for agricultural, forestry, and fishery products and protects 71 European Union (EU)-proposed GIs for agricultural and food items (see JA7151).

In June 2017, MAFF and Vietnam National Office of Intellectual Property agreed that they would work together to mutually protect some GI items. Similarly, MAFF and the Department of Intellectual Property, Ministry of Commerce of the Kingdom of Thailand agreed to work together on GI issues in March 2017. Several media reports indicate that the Government of Japan would like to expand GI protection for items from ASEAN countries. FAS/Tokyo expects to see an increase of non-Japanese agricultural and food items on the application list going forward.

ID No.	Name Applied	Information of Applicant			GI Category
ID No.	Name Applied	Association	Representative	Address	GI Category
212	Buôn Ma Thuột Coffee	Hiệp hội Cà phê Buôn Ma Thuột	Director, Trịnh Đức Minh	15A đường Trường Chinh, thành phố Buôn Ma Thuột, tỉnh Đắk Lắk, Việt Nam	Class1: Ag. Product
213	Lục Ngạn Lychee	Hội sản xuất và tiêu thụ vải thiều Lục Ngạn	Director, Bui Xuan Sinh	Phòng Nông nghiệp và Phát triển nông thôn, thị trấn Chũ, huyện Lục Ngạn, tỉnh Bắc Giang, Việt Nam	Class1: Ag. Product
2014	Bình Thuận Dragon Fruit	Hiệp hội Thanh long Bình Thuận	Director, Vo Huy Hoang	17 đường Thủ Khoa Huân, thành phố Phan Thiết, tỉnh Bình Thuận, Việt Nam	Class1: Ag. Product