In September 2020, the EU and China signed an agreement on cooperation and protection of Geographical Indications (GIs) – according to which China would recognise and protect 96 EU agri-food GIs, and the EU would do the same with 100 Chinese agri-food products. The agreement came into force in January 2021. The agreement safeguards in particular the protection of the translation and transliterations of GI names in Chinese language; it also automatically rejects all trademark applications misusing the GIs, as well as third-party registration of protected GIs.

Furthermore, four years after its entry into force on 1 March 2025, the scope of the agreement will expand to cover an additional 175 GIs from both sides; a mechanism to add even more GIs in the future is also included.

More details on GIs for specific product categories can be found in the F&B sectoral reports of the EU SME Centre (see FAQ “What resources does the EU SME Centre have in the F&B sector?”).