situation of gis protection in africa and relevance of a continental approach

1. DEVELOPMENT OF GIS IN THE
AFRICAN UNION: A CONTINENTAL
STRATEGY AND AN ACTION PLAN
VALIDATION WORKSHOP
22-25 November 2016 – Nairobi,
Kenya

2. Situation of GI protection in Africa
and relevance of a continental
approach
I. Statements
II. Diagnosis
Monique Bagal
Consultant in Geographical indications
22/11/2016

3. Statements
Existing legal options
22/11/2016
No legal framework for GIs
Incomplete framework for GIs
Complete framework for GIs
Completion in progress
- 1 unfair competition
only
- 3 Trademark only
- 50 trademark and sui
generis
Non exclusive options of
protection

4. OAPI
22/11/2016
Statements
Existing legal systems
Bangui Agreement, as revised in 1999
- 17 Countries
- Article 32 to 36, collective trademarks
(10 years)
- Recent adherence to the Madrid
Protocol on international
registration of TDK
- Annex VI Geographical indications
- 3 registered Gis
Ongoing revision of the Bangui Agreeement 2015

5. Statements
Existing legal systems
ARIPO -19 countries
-12 observers
-10 members of Banjul protocol
Botswana, Lesotho,
Malawi,Namibia,Liberia, São Tomé
and Príncipe, Swaziland, Tanzania,
Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
Trademark protection (Coll. Cert.
TDK undefined)
- GI protocol adopted
22/11/2016

6. 22/11/2016
Offices
• 53 national
offices on IP
• 2 regional
offices
Committees
• 8/9
Committees on
GI in OAPI
region
• ? Other
specific
committees
Registers
• National
• One regional
register in OAPI
(the BOPI)
• On line services
on ARIPO
website
Statements
Existing institutional capacities

7. Statements
Membership to international organisations
International conventions
54 Paris
convention
52 TRIPS
6 Lisbon
Agreement
0 Geneva Act
Regional Free-trade organizations
22/11/2016
55 AU Countries
• 3 Arab Magrheb Union
• East African Community
• 8 Intergovernmental Authority on
Development (IGAD)
• 11 Economic Commnity of Central
African States (ECCA)
• 15 Economic Community of Western
African States (ECOWAS)
• 15 South African Development
Community (SADC)
• 19 Common Market for Eastern and
southern Africa (COMESA)
• 28 Community of Sahel-Saharan States
(CEN-SAD)

8. Diagnosis
Confict of laws
22/11/2016
Different scope of
protection from one state
to another
• Against « unfair
competition » or against
direct or indirect use
Different possibilities
AO+GI / GI
• Private vs Public
management
• Sui generis or
trademark
• Certification trademark
vs collective trademark

9. Diagnosis
Conflict of procedures
UPSTREAM
• Access to information
• Procedures of registration
(code of conduct)
• Procedures of
examination (formal,
substantial/natural
person, legal person)
• Fees (more or less
expensive/ trademark,
GI)
• Opposition procedures
(more or less months)
DOWNSTREAM
•Access to registers
•Access to justice (which court is
competent?)
•Access to regional justice
(interpretation exclusively
national)
•Means for repression of fraud
(no procedures for Gis, no
continental list)
22/11/2016

10. DOOR DATABASE
27/05
/2016

11. ARIPO
OAPI
22/11/2016
Diagnosis
Absence of convergence of systems
18 Countries excluded
Issues with reciprocity
Conflits of
laws
Conflict of
procedures
Conflict of
intepretation
No room for
cooperation

12. Diagnosis
22/11
/2016
Persistance of fraud
On the regional market
Toiles de Fakaha, fabriquées
au Sénégal
Violet de
Damani

13. Diagnosis
Non-capitalization on alternative
conventions
22/11/2016
• International protection and
registration of appellations of
origin in 28
Lisbon
agreement
• International protection of
trademarks in 98 countries
Madrid
agreement
• Reciprocal protection of
names between EU and
African countries
EPA
• International protection of GIs
and AOGeneva Act

14. 27/05
/2016
Masque Baoulé authentique
Masque baoulé made in Indonesia
Diagnosis
Non-capitalization on alternative conventions
Persistance of fraud on the international market

15. Diagnosis
Non-capitalization on Regional Economic Communities
22/11/2016
Policy?
Repression of fraud?
Financing?
Justice?

16. CONCLUSION
• Need for a common policy on GIs in Africa (options
of protection, interpretation, enforcement,
repression)
• Need for a framework that would address specific
African needs (i.e transnational GIs)
• Need for a framework that shall be integrative of
other realities (food security, environmental
sustainability, etc.)
• Increasing need to efficiently protect African names
• Increasing pressure on institutional capacities due to
membership in international organizations
22/11/2016
CONTINENTAL STRATEGY FOR GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS IN AFRICA