Do Geographical Indications Certify Origin and Quality?

Abstract

Geographical Indications (GIs) protect regional specialty foods such as lemons from Sorrento or Gouda from Holland. While the EU asserts that GIs certify and protect traditional high-quality products, the US sees them as protectionist. This chapter contributes to the debate by developing a conceptual framework of different quality attributes and analyzes how GIs may certify quality on those attributes. It argues that GIs always certify origin, although with some caveats. In terms of consumer valuation, origin may be valued as a quality attribute per se, or only indirectly through taste. Our framework clarifies the possibilities and limits for GIs to certify quality to different consumers.