Craft & Industrial Geographical Indications Expert Working Group in Key Discussions at EUIPO’s Geographical Indications 2025 Conference

CIGI working group Alicante conference 2

This week, members of the Craft & Industrial Geographical Indications Expert Working Group, coordinated by the European Crafts Alliance (ECA) and the Fédération Française des Indications Géographiques Industrielles et Artisanales (FFIGIA), attended the international conference Geographical Indications 2025: Safeguarding our Heritage, Cultivating our Future on 28-29 January 2025 in Alicante, Spain.

The two-day event, hosted by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) with the European Commission’s DG GROW and DG AGRI, gathered key stakeholders, policymakers and experts. The focus was on implementing the EU’s new geographical indications (GIs) regulation for craft and industrial products, which comes into effect in December 2025. The regulation was publicly welcomed by the crafts and industrial sector last year.

The conference provided a platform for attendees all over Europe to exchange knowledge, share expertise and discuss both the challenges and opportunities of the new GI regulation. Representatives from the Expert Working Group actively contributed to the discussions also on different conference panels:

Audrey Aubard, General Secretary of FFIGIA, and Kieran Molloy, Director of Molloy & Sons Weaving Limited (Donegal Tweed Association), discussed opportunities and challenges for craft GIs.
Laurence Besse, Secretary General of the Association for the Limoges Porcelain GI, and David Pastva, Director of the Crystal Valley project at the Regional Development Agency of the Czech Republic, contributed to a panel on the lifecycle of craft and agri GIs.
Ana Cristina Mendes, Deputy Director of CEARTE and Vice-President of ECA, and Laura Miguel Baumann, Secretary General of ECA, provided insights on GIs and sustainability.

The discussions focused on the significance of GIs for ensuring fair competition and promoting regional economic growth. The regulation is set to give craftspeople and industrial producers the same level of intellectual property protection as agricultural GIs to the agricultural sector.

The occasion was also an opportunity for the Craft & Industrial Geographical Indications Expert Working Group to hold strategic meetings with key stakeholders, in line with the groups key activities – to foster collaboration between producers, policymakers, and implementing entities in order to facilitate a smooth transition to the new regulation. The group also remains committed to supporting practitioners and stakeholders through the changes and promoting best practices for GI protection across Europe.

Craft & Industrial Geographical Indications Expert Working Group extends its gratitude to EUIPO, as well as to the European Commission’s DG GROW and DG AGRI for organizing this milestone event. The conference was a major step forward, however there is still much work to be done on all sides. The Expert Working Group looks forward to continuing its collaboration with EU institutions and sector stakeholders. It is now focused on the next phases of its work plan, in order to ensure the successful implementation of the new GI regulation for the benefit of Europe’s craft and industrial sectors, and consequently the European economy.

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ABOUT THE EXPERT WORKING GROUP

The Craft & Industrial Geographical Indications Expert Working Group was established in January 2024 and is coordinated by the European Crafts Alliance (ECA) and the Fédération Française des Indications Géographiques Industrielles et Artisanales (FFIGIA). The working group is chaired by the 2 countries with experience in implementing GI protection systems for CI products i.e., Portugal (Cristina Mendes, CEARTE) and France (Fabrice Descombes, FFIGIA). The group is joined as well by: Pierres et Marbres de Wallonie, Italian Confederation of Craft Trades and Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CNA), Donegal Tweed Association, Centro per l’Artigianato Artistico e Tradizionale della Toscana (ARTEX), Oficio y Arte (OAE), Centro de Formação Profissional para o Artesanato e Património (CEARTE), Confartigianato, Pierre Bleue Belge, SME United, Cerameunie, Verband Erzgebirgischer Kunsthandwerker und Spielzeughersteller e. V., Connemara Marble and Idrija Lace.

The Expert Working Group was initiated with the key aim of facilitating communication and interaction between different craft and Industrial bodies across Europe and provide a valuable communication platform for interaction with key EU legislative bodies involved in the implementation of the new regulations. Recognizing the valuable experiences of producers, the group welcomes and is open to their insights on challenges, uncertainties and opportunities that may arise with the new regulations.

To share views or more information reach out to secretariat(at)europeancraftsalliance.org