Approval of the Regulation on the Adjustment of Geographical Indications
July 17, 2021
The Committee on Cabinet Laws of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan drafted the regulation on geographical indications of the place of production, which was prepared by the Intellectual Property Protection of the General Directorate of Central Business Registry and Intellectual Property of Ministry of Industry and Commerce, approved and instructed the Ministry of Justice to seriously pursue its legal process.
The Regulation on the Adjustment of Geographical Indications of the Place of Production was prepared in accordance with Article 20 of the Law on Geographical Indications of the Site of Production at the initiative of the Geographical Indications Department of the Intellectual Property Protection Directorate with the technical cooperation of international partners.
Geographical indications of the place of production as a part of intellectual property, to support specific products of specific regions of the country, the quality, reputation and other characteristics of these products are due to the place of production, such as Herat saffron, Kandahar pomegranate and Khost pine nut.
Geographical indications are an important and key method to indicate the origin and geographical origin of goods offered to the market, and in many cases, referring to the geographical origin of a product due to the high reputation of that area, will be a factor to motivate more customers and increase product sales.
Given its geographical location from the distant past, Afghanistan is known as the main origin and major center of production of many pure and unique products and goods in the world, which in most cases has gained worldwide fame in the field.
The lack of an effective support system for these products, has led to the deliberate use of the reputation of these products by the country's neighbors and regional competitors, which by offering the country's products in its own name, has deprived Afghanistan of the economic benefits of these products.
Registration of products as geographical indications, on the one hand, causes their support at the national and international levels, and on the other hand, brings numerous economic benefits to the government, the people and, most importantly (gardeners, farmers, businessmen, etc…).
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce, has put the beginning of the process of registering the country's products as geographical indications at the top of its work, and the three main products of the country are supposed to be pomegranate, Kandahar Arghandab, ancient Herat saffron and Khost pine nut.
In the first round, it should be registered in t Intellectual Property Protection directorate of this Ministry as a geographical indication of the place of production.
This regulation was approved by the Cabinet Law Committee of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on July 11, 2021 meeting.
