Commerce minister says geographical indication bill to be passed soon

LAHORE: Ministry of commerce is aggressively working to get the draft geographical bill passed in order to protect local brands and fetch fair prices of products in the international market, a minister said on Tuesday. 

Commerce minister Khurram Dastgir Khan, at a meeting of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (Reap), said the ministry is working on geographical indication law, “and it will soon be implemented.”

Khan acknowledged the problems related to brand recognition raised by the Reap office bearers. “Half of the subsidy is available for those rice exporters who are exporting their rice under their brand names.”

State-owned Intellectual Property Organisation Pakistan drafted Geographical Indication Bill 2016 to protect the products, originating from a specific area, whose quality or reputation is attributable to its place of origin. Currently, geographical indications are being protected under collective mark system of Trademark Ordinance, 2001.

Industry experts said an effective local law is imperative to protect the GI interests of indigenous products. They said India has managed to place GI logos on its more than 200 products, which mean that they belong to the country and which also entail good prices in the international market. 

“Unfortunately, not a single product in Pakistan has a GI logo despite the country boasts of Sindhi Ajrak, Multani Halwa and a variety of mangoes,” an expert said.  Ironically, the most popular rice variety is cultivated on fields in India and Pakistan in a very close proximity.

Pakistani basmati growers have been strenuously fighting at an Indian court in order to protect their geographical indication against infringements in aromatic rice since 2004.  GI tag protects the legal rights of agricultural, manufactured and natural goods in a specific geographical territory, according to the World Trade Organization. That means the rice produced in areas other than the specified cannot be called Basmati.

Mahmood Baqi Moulvi, chairman of Reap said rice is the second biggest exportable commodity in Pakistan. “Despite earning around two billion dollars in valuable foreign exchange annually, rice exporters are not given the benefits, which are available for textile, leather, carpet, sports goods and surgical instruments sectors,” Moulvi said. ”We have already written letters to Finance Minister as well as to your esteemed office to include rice export sector in zero-rated exporting sectors and exempt rice exports from sales and income tax on utilities.”

Reap chairman said rice exporters have been facing unprecedented challenges for years and, “consequently, their capacity has severely been impaired.”   “For the international marketing of rice and to get high price of the commodity, it is necessary for rice exporters to establish their own brands,” he added. “Rice export from Pakistan is generally affected due to improper branding, poor packing and non-compliance to sanitary and phytosanitary measures.” The State Bank of Pakistan granted relaxation in payback time by three months to rice exporters owing to decline in exports. 

“We request to the ministry of commerce to extend the relaxation payback period for another three months and withhold imposing more penalties on rice exporters,” Moulvi said. Rice exports fell 18 percent to $713 million in the first half of the current fiscal year, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.