http://www.fao.org/in-action/quality-and-origin-program/en Présentation de la situation institutionnelle en Jordanie (english)

1. Geographical Indications
in
Jordan
1- Justifications
2- current situation of GIs
3- building the system of GIs
Sulaiman Alrkaibat,
Director of Trade Agreements Unit, MoA

2. Challenges that facing Agr.
Sector in Jordan
(MoA, small farmers and Rural areas(
•Legislative, social, trade and economics,
institutional and practical challenges

3. Liberalizing the Trade (WTO(
• Higher competition
• Lower tariffs
• The current marketing system don’t
distinguish between agri. Products
according to distinguish characteristics
(method of production, place of
production, who are the producers(

4. Changes in local production system
• big firms / high investment
• high yield varieties
the impact on small producers:
• their need to transition period to cope
• the opportunity cost
• immigration from rural areas to urban

5. Required Role from MoA
• Strengthening the farmers organization
• Creation of proper legislative frame work
• Inducing the proper changes in agricultural
policies
• Adopting new innovations in agriculture with
benefit to small farmers such as
• organic products
• fair Trade
• GIs
As to maximize the value of production of small
farmers

6. In Jordan
• Organic farming JICA
• Fair Trade NGOs
• GIs FDA

7. Current situation
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS LAW
LAW NO. 8 FOR THE YEAR 2000 :
ARTICLE 2
• Minister: Minister of Industry and Trade.
• Geographical Indication: Any indication
which identifies a good as originating in
the territory of a specific country, or a
region or locality of that territory, where a
given quality, reputation or other
characteristic of the good is essentially
attributable to its origin

8. • ARTICLE 3
• A- Any person is prohibited from the following:
• 1. The use of any means in the designation or
presentation of a good that indicates that the
good in question originates in a geographical
area other than the true place of origin, in a
manner which misleads the public as to the
geographical origin of the good.
• 3. The use of a geographical indication which,
although literally true, falsely represents to the
public that the goods originate in other than the
true place of origin

9. • ARTICLE 4
• A- 2 trademark from the Register may also be
filed without restriction to the period related
thereto, which is determined in the Trademarks
Law in force.
• ARTICLE 7
• The following acts shall not be considered in
violation of the provisions of this Law:
• A– 1. Acquiring through use, in good faith, a
trademark, which is identical or similar to a
geographical indication before the provisions of
this Law came into force or before the
geographical indication is accorded protection in
its country of origin.

10. • - Using a geographical indication of any
other country, by any means, for which the
indication is identical to the common
Arabic term for such goods or services
in the Kingdom
ARTICLE 9
• The Council of Ministers may issue
regulations necessary to implement the
provisions of this Law.

11. building the system of GIs
• Assessment mission from French Development
Agency (FDA) was in Jordan as to advice in
establishing a system of GIs in Jordan:
• Their main findings are:
• In principle, this law prohibits the establishment
of trademarks mentioning geographic sites
• a number of Jordanian officials believe that
geographic indications should be regarded as
collective marks and should be treated as such

12. the Abou Ghazaleh law firm), taken the
initiative to propose a new law on GIs
which is much more comprehensive than
the ordinance of 2000
• draft the law based on:
• The TRIPS Agreement,
• The International Lisbon Agreement, and
• The Paris Agreements
• (37 articles instead of 10).
• a specific bureau for registering GIs in the
Ministry Industry and Trade.

13. • GIs would be considered a quality sign certified
by the Jordan Institute for Standards and
Metrology (JISM).
• Products would have to conform to European
standards
• GIs protected for 10 years, can be renewed.
Every 10 years,
• the product would be checked to ensure that it
is conforming to the standards.
• The draft law would be very clear on the
procedure for filing the registration and the
system for penalized protection.
• The draft law is due to be presented to the
Ministry of Industry and Trade by the end of the
year.

14. The content of the List of Requirements
A classic list of requirements for geographical
indications should include the following
• Name of the product including a mention
of the geographical indication,
• Demarcation of the area concerned,
defined as the surface area that includes
all the communities or parts of the
communities that are included in that area,

15. • Factors that justify the existing link
between the quality and the characteristics
of the product along with the geographical
location or with the geographical origin,
• Description of the product including the
raw materials and the main physical,
chemical or organic characteristics,
• Factors that prove that the product
originates from the geographic area in
question

16. • Description of how this product is
obtained, its expiry date, its local address,
service address and headquarters
address,
• References of the institution if the
requester's choice regarding control
issues is handled by a certifying institution

17. • Specific requirements for the labelling of
that product,
• Details of all those who were involved in
the production and/or manufacturing
and/or packaging of the product from the
point of origin onwards in order to facilitate
control issues, and
• An inspection plan that can be followed by
the concerned authorities or organisations

18. Establishing The National Commission
for Geographical Indications
• A national commission for geographical
indications should be established. It would
gather concerned administrations and
professionals as well as experts

19. • Its function
• to review the cases for geographical indications in view
of
• list of requirements and current texts
• it would present its view to the authorities responsible
for the registration of GIs. If this advice is unfavourable,
• the geographical indicator will not be registered
• In these cases, the requesters will have the right to
appeal
• If advice is favourable, the GIs will be published in the
relevant official
• . All those involved will then have the right to object
within a certain period of time.
• Once this time period is over or once the appeal has
been accepted,
• the GIs will be considered as definitely recognised and
will be registered

20. • Rule of some Compositions of the commission
• The Ministry of Industry and Trade and IPPD:
We propose that the MoIT should be the
Jordanian authority for GI, through the IPPD,
and that a GI department be created within the
collective marks register.
• To avoid modifying the law on trademarks and
the law on geographical indications.
• in view of its competencies in matters of
expertise, controls and accreditation, the
participation of JISM in the commission is vital

21. • The Ministry of Agriculture:
This Ministry needs to play an important
role when it comes to expertise in handling
cases., because of its competence in
issues related to the TRIPS Agreement
and in implementing various standards
and norms as a result of Jordan joining
the WTO.
• The contribution of the Olive Bureau is
required to launch the pilot geographical
indications project on olive oil

22. • The Ministry of Justice: to review the
draft law of GIs.
• the Ministry of Planning will decide if
they wish to participate in this commission.
• The Royal Court could be represented in
this commission.
• The Ministry of Environment should
participate, in our view, in the commission
as geographic indications must, by their
very concept, contribute to conserving the
environment

23. • The Jordan Food and Drug
Administration (JFDA) must participate in
the commission in view of its responsibility
of providing export certificates. If not, then
it should at least be consulted as an
expert when cases are decided.
• NCARTT, public research institution,
should participate in the commission as a
scientific expert

24. Protecting GI
• The terms of the ordinance can be completed by
adding the following regulations:
• The geographical indications as well as their
geographic representations or logos are for
collective use. They remain the property of the
State through the organization that has
processed their registration

25. Ministry of Planning/AFD
GI Commission
Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Agriculture, The Royal Court, Ministry of
Environment, JISM, IPPD, Customs, NCARTT
Jordan Farmers Union, JEDCO, JOPEA, JFDA, Millers Association, RSS
Ministry of Industry and Trade
Institutional Component
1Setting up of an institutional and judicial
system for GI
2Organization of a training programme
Operational Component: setting up and promoting a
pilot project in Yubla and Ajloun
1.Setting up a pilot olive oil GI with two producers’
organizations (Yubla and Raymouni)
2.Technical support and training on good
agricultural practices
3.Promotion with JOPEA and JMU
JE*
IPPD registration organization for GI and MoIT Technical Assistance and Consultant
Firm with,MoA and JFU