On July 7, in the conference hall of AGEPI was held a videoconference with the representatives of the Georgian National IP Center, SAKPATENTI. The videoconference was attended by Mrs. Lilia Bolocan, Director General, Mr. Eduard Grama, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry (MAFI) and experts from AGEPI, MAFI and National Office of Vine and Wine.

For starters, Mrs. Lilia Bolocan thanked colleagues from Georgia for having accepted the invitation to the videoconference and also expressed the hope of a useful exchange of experience for the development of the system of protection of geographical indications (GIs) and appellations of origin (AO) in the Republic of Moldova.

Discussions have started with an overview of GIs protection in Georgia, after which they focused on practical issues related to the procedure for identification/selection of GIs/AO (laboratories and team of specialists responsible for product tasting); specifications: development, approval and publication of specifications (the institution responsible, the modality of approval and publication); ensuring compliance with the specifications (internal, external control; the authorities empowered with the right of control); the procedure for grant and withdrawal of the right to use (the institution that grants/withdraws the right to use; register of persons who have the right to use (entry in the register/exclusion from the register), etc.

Also, in the videoconference were discussed questions related to the registration of wines and spirits with GIs, the modality of differentiation of products with registered GIs and involvement of the Ministry of Agriculture in the process of registration.

The meeting was held in the format of questions – answers that were aimed at taking the best practices in the field of protection of GIs/AO.