Protecting Craft and Industrial Products: The EU’s New Geographical Indication (GI) Framework Effective December 2025

Protecting Craft and Industrial Products: The EU’s New Geographical Indication (GI) Framework Effective December 2025

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Overview

It may not seem obvious, but “Parma ham“ and “Champagne” share several important similarities. On the one hand, both are agricultural products. On the other hand, they are geographical indications. The latter can be protected legally as “Protected Designations of Origin” (PDOs) thanks to Regulation (EU) 2024/1143, which provides EU-wide protection of Geographical Indications for agricultural products, wines and spirits.

In contrast, there has been so far no protection for Geographical Indications for craft and industrial products on an EU-wide basis. This is set to change from December 1st, 2025, with Regulation (EU) 2023/2411, which provides for the protection of geographical indications for craft and industrial products at EU level.

Which products can be protected as geographical indications?

A registered geographical indication provides EU-wide protection against the unauthorized use of the protected name. The protection for Geographical Indications for craft and industrial products covers all products that are either handmade or manufactured using machines in a standardized way. This includes, for example, natural stones, wooden goods, jewelry, textiles, lace, cutlery, glass, porcelain, as well as hides and skins. In addition, the protection also covers domain names and online applications.

Objectives of the new regulation

The protection of geographical indications for craft and industrial products is intended to increase consumers’ awareness of the authenticity of products. In addition, it is expected to have positive economic effects on small and medium-sized enterprises and to impact positively on employment, development, and tourism in the relevant regions. Furthermore, the specific protection of geographical indications serves to preserve and develop cultural heritage in the fields of agriculture, craft and industry.

Requirements for a geographical indication

For the name of a craft or industrial product to qualify for protection as a geographical indication, the product must fulfill certain requirements:

• The product must originate in a specific place, region or country.
• The product’s given quality, reputation or other characteristic must be essentially attributable to its geographical origin.
• Not all production steps of the product, but at least one must take place in the defined geographical area.

Who may apply?

Generally, an application for the registration of a geographical indication must be submitted by a so-called producer group. That means any association, irrespective of its legal form, mainly composed of producers working with the same product.

As an exception to this rule, a single producer can act as the applicant if both of the following conditions are met:

• The person is the only producer willing to apply; and
• the geographical area is defined by a specific part of a territory (not based on property boundaries) and either:
  
  • has characteristics that are noticeably different from neighboring areas, or
  • the product’s characteristics are different from those of products produced in neighboring areas.

Registration procedure

Applications for the registration of a geographical indication can be submitted from December 1st, 2025. The registration procedure shall comprise two phases – a first national one and a second one at EU level.

In the national phase, the competent trademark office examines the application and conducts a national opposition procedure if necessary. After a successful examination, it forwards the application to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), which continues the procedure and makes the final decision on the registration.

Some craft and industrial products already have national protection for their geographical indications. For example, in Germany, “Solingen” is protected for cutlery under the Solingen Regulation, and “Glashütte” is protected for watches under the Glashütte Regulation. Such national protections will expire on December 2nd, 2026. To maintain protection, a valid application for EU-wide registration under art. 70 of Regulation (EU) 2023/2411 must be submitted before that date.

The relevant register

Names of craft and industrial products for which registration as a geographical indication has been applied for, or which are already registered as geographical indications, are recorded in the electronic EU Register for Craft and Industrial Products.

This register will be publicly accessible via the EUIPO website from December 1st, 2025.

Outlook

With the new EU regulation, we can expect to see not only products like “Parma ham” and “Champagne”, but also come across Protected Designations of Origin like “Murano glass”, “Venetian masks”, “Deutsche Autos” and many others.

If you are considering protecting a craft or industrial product as a geographical indication, or have any questions about the new EU regulation, LexDellmeier is pleased to provide you with advice.