ARISE+ IPR launches its first General awareness campaign in the South-East Asia region
In 2020, the EU-funded project ARISE+ IPR launched a general awareness campaign devoted to project stakeholders, local businesses, and the public lasting until 29 January 2021. Some of the highlights include facts about national GIs (Geographical Indications) in ASEAN, the benefits of GIs in the EU, the Hague system's implementation at the EU and the Geneva Act, and the new features on the project website.
The content focuses on the substantial benefits of GIs to local people and communities, ASEAN Member States (AMS) and the world, as well as the relationship between GIs and other types of intellectual property (IP) rights. It also contains information about the website updates and the Learning tab, the new resource centre on www.ariseplusipr.eu where the audience can find the project audio-visual materials such as recorded webinars and training modules on various topics. ARISE+ IPR publishes the content on IPR Development social media channels, including Twitter, LinkedIn, and the recently created Facebook page.
Concerning the GI aspect, the goal of the campaign is to raise awareness of national and regional GIs among the AMS. By supporting GIs and acknowledging their value, individuals, and communities on a local, national and global scale can profit immensely from food diversity, economic empowerment, increasing employment, sustainable development and more environmentally friendly surroundings.
In rural areas, in particular, GIs are considered a useful tool for economic growth and sustainable development, and GI protection systems are a valuable tool for differentiating competitive goods in the market.
In the AMS, GIs generate a positive impact in terms of volumes, prices, and local development. For example, when the international price of pepper was relatively stable, there was an increase in prices for all varieties of pepper under GI protection systems. The price of Kampot white pepper (Cambodia) increased by 160% from 2009 to 2018 [1] resulting on great advantage to the local community producing this kind of pepper.
The protection of IP rights, including GI protection, is an important element of the EU-ASEAN bilateral trade in goods, which reached EUR 237 billion in 2018 [2]. A strong IP protection system encourages innovation, guarantees incentives for creators and promotes investor confidence, which in turn leads to increased economic growth and employment.
Through this campaign, the ARISE+ IPR project encourages the public and stakeholders to create, protect, utilise, commercialise and enforce their IP rights in the ASEAN region.
[1] ARISE+ IPR programme (2019), Geographical indications in the ASEAN region, page 9.
[2] ARISE+ IPR programme (2019), Geographical indications in the ASEAN region, page 5.