Dev Gangjee delivers keynote speech at European Commission conference

On 25-26 November 2020, Dev Gangjee was invited to the deliver the keynote speech (‘Strengthening GIs Responsibly’) at the European Commission’s Strengthening Geographical Indications conference. He joined a plenary panel consisting of Janusz Wojciechowski, the EU’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development; Hans-Joachim Fuchtel, German Parliamentary State Secretary for Food and Agriculture; Irène Tolleret, MEP; Wolfgang Burtscher, Director General of DG AGRI; and Christian Archambeau, Executive Director of the European Union Intellectual Property Office.

The online event launched a major new reform initiative while actively seeking stakeholder views on how to strengthen the protection, utilisation and promotion of Geographical Indications (GIs). GIs are valuable regional brands relating to wines, spirits, and agricultural products, including Champagne, Scotch and Parmigiano Reggiano. Producers, stakeholders and EU country officials actively contributed towards fashioning responses to current challenges, including the effective enforcement of GIs on the internet and increasingly embracing sustainability criteria within production practices.