The Australia Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) says Australian food manufacturers are under threat from EU demands in free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations.
The EU said it would ban Australian companies from using product names protected under the EU Geographical Indications (GIs) including parmesan, balsamic, feta, and kransky. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said the EU initially asked Australia to protect 236 spirit names and 172 agricultural and other foodstuff names as GIs in Australia. The names relate to a range of sectors including, dairy, meat, smallgoods, horticulture, confectionery, oils, beer and spirits.
The AFGC said these are common terms for food products and manufacturers in Australia.
AFGC CEO Tanya Barden said local manufacturers support free trade but not at the cost of forfeiting product names that have been used for generations.
“The federal government must ensure the future of the Australian food manufacturing industry is not crippled by allowing the EU to claim ownership over these widely used terms and the precedent it sets for other FTA negotiations,” Barden said.
“Enforcement of EU GIs would cripple many businesses as they struggle to rebuild from the Covid pandemic, and it would jeopardise regional jobs.”
GIs are names used on products that come from a specific geographical area, have qualities attributable to that location, and highlight regional expertise and know-how. The system began in 1992. The EU says GIs are recognised as intellectual property and enable consumers to trust and distinguish quality products while also helping producers to market their products better.
DFAT said since the initial negotiations, the list reduced by eight – 2 spirit GIs and 6 agricultural and other food stuffs – following the UK withdrawal from the EU.
In 2019, DFAT published the list of GIs for public feedback. It received more than 400 submissions.
It said, “The government is continuing to build on the information received during the objections process, in conjunction with industry stakeholders, to ensure the Government has a comprehensive understanding of the costs that would be associated with the protection of specific terms.”
Barden said, “The EU’s GIs demand could strip up to $2.9 billion from the local industry and impact some 3700 locally made products – ranging from dairy to smallgoods, oils and confectionery – currently on supermarket shelves.
“Worsening the situation is a lack of clarity over how translations of names in the list would be interpreted. For example, the term “parmigiano”, which is on the list, is relatively limited in use but it translates as “parmesan” – a name widely used not just by Australian cheese makers but by many other food manufacturers as an ingredient in products.”
Barden said if GIs were enforced, Australian food manufacturers would not be compensated by any improved access to EU markets and urged the federal government not to give ground on the issue.
“Trading away the rights of Australian manufacturers to use these everyday names would mean a Free Trade Agreement that risks hammering regional Australian communities, where 40 per cent of food manufacturers are based, and disadvantaging Australian consumers, with no perceived benefit for a vital domestic industry,” she said.
DFAT said an FTA with the EU would open up a market of almost 450 million people and a GDP of roughly $23 trillion.
